


Cold Comforts for Aching Bones

by MsMiaMimi (Mc_Mimi)



Series: Remember You Shall Die [1]
Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Abused Puppets, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Alternate Universe - World War II, BAMF Charles, BAMF Moira, BAMF Raven, Charles Is Not Fucking Around, Charles You Slut, Charles is a Tease, Concentration Camps, EVIL ERIK is EVIL not cute and misunderstood, F/M, Kidnapping, M/M, Non-Consensual Somnophilia, Sexual Coercion, Warning: Erik is Evil, just EVIL, no really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 15:09:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 28
Words: 55,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3696935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mc_Mimi/pseuds/MsMiaMimi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Second World War, mutants are in charge of much of the planet.  Captain America is president of the U.S. and a cabinet of powerful mutant Generals lead the Allied Forces (mostly) to victory.  Germany, Poland, and most of central Europe is now controlled by Shaw, the mutant who killed Hitler.</p><p>Twenty years later, the whole world is still at war, with Shaw  and the Generals he appointed as rulers in the States he collectively controls in ‘Shawland.’</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Band Starts Up

Berlin, Germany September 1963

Charles leans back against Erik’s chest. The music from the jazz band is kicking up. Moira and Raven look on from across the table. Today they are in new dresses. They make a splendid pair, Charles thinks. All the proper gentlemen in the club have been eying his girls all night. Raven’s blue skin is beautifully contrasted in a gold-colored mini dress and thigh high boots. She looks fun and sexy and many of the men look like they would kill for a chance to come upstairs to the glass VIP booth. Moira is more conservative, but she is eye-catching none the less. She’s wearing a white a-line number that reminds Charles of Grace Kelly. She is marked with a ‘H’ on right shoulder but none of the men seem to care.

Charles smiles at them from across the table and wishes they were anywhere else.

He has new clothes too. Erik made sure of it. He’s wearing a light blue collarless suit with prissy ruffles at the cuffs. His [hair](https://40.media.tumblr.com/747afa81dff44021eb540d8eaaec7c78/tumblr_nmvorzrBsF1u2aay0o1_1280.jpg) is slicked back into a tight pigtail. It’s still shorter over his temples where they shaved it months ago, but the length of the rest of his hair is enough. He feels like a doll, perched atop of Erik’s lap while the other man sits with a satisfied expression on his face. Charles can feel Erik hardening beneath him. He’s hasn’t squirmed or done anything tantalizing to deserve such a response, but with Erik he’s learned, it is sometimes just enough that they are close. Erik’s never-ending libido has the man looking around before he excuses them both. The girls grimace and Raven looks away. She downs her drink in one gulp, avoiding eye contact. Moira looks him straight in the eye and gives him silent permission to keep on.

Charles primly stands and offers his sister and wife a weak smile before he lets their captor lead him away to a room in the back.

Charles wishes desperately to be anywhere else.


	2. The Cabinet

London, England January 1963

 

The malnourished, gray and misshapen souls that haunt the camp are never changing.

One after one, they each wear gray and black. They each appear hollowed eyed. They shuffle from place to place, doing their duties, eating their bread crumbs, and then going back to their assigned bunks. There’s no fighting, or arguing. There’s no rape in the bunk house of mixed sexes. There is only the worn down resignation of laborers who know they can expect worst treatment from the captors. They don’t bother to hassle one another.

Mothers and fathers care for their children in the only way allowed them, they all sleep in huddles. One twin-size bed holding a family of four on the bottom bunk. The orphans huddle together, occasionally accepting adoption from one of the families. Single men and women without romantic attachment do the same, sleeping in groups of three or more for warmth. It is always cold. There is no privacy as a pair of guards from the regime always stand at the bunk house’s open doors.

These are the conditions that Charles Xavier protests against.

He finds himself facing a table of high ranking cabinet members appointed as the leaders of Free Europe. He’s showing the war cabinet photos and recorded video from the human camps in Germany and Poland. He stands at a podium in his favorite grey suit and with his dog tags clearly visible. “I served King and country for 8 years. I saw firsthand these horrors. Even after we took ground back in France the humans were still being rounded up and exterminated or caged. Sent by train and truck to these camps of horror. I am begging you to reconsider the terms of treaty with Shaw. He is a monster just as bad his predecessor and he is allowing his generals and governors to commit genocide. We already know where turning a blind eye to this can lead!”

Red-faced from his passionate entreaty, Charles takes a step back with his good leg. His right leg is braced with metal around his suit, but he can walk without a cane. He knew it would be important to appear whole in front of the cabinet but he couldn’t afford to wait for his injury to heal. He had to petition immediately for the aid of the humans captured by Shaw’s regime.

One of the cabinet members, a female mutant with eyes that seem to glow red, nods and motions for Charles to come to the table and take a seat. “I understand this is very personal for you, Captain. However, it doesn’t make it any more plausible for us to send you into neutral territory with armed forces.”

“Neutral?” Charles can feel himself panicking. They are going to reject his proposal. He’ll have to do everything himself, unsanctioned. He’s already making plans before he responds, “There is nothing neutral about the land held by General Lehnsherr. He is a hate mongering, murdering… coward! He hides up in his fort while his people gather humans from across **_our_** borders to steal back to his camps for labor! God only knows what Shaw is doing to the ones sent to him in Berlin.”

The cabinet sits quietly for a moment after his outburst. Then with a sigh the woman, General Arlington speaks again.

“I’m sorry Charles. We cannot send our soldiers across the border to rescue your wife and child. The cease fire with Shaw would be... I am truly sorry.” She is a five star general with the United Armed Forces of Freed Europe.   Charles had hoped having served under her, would at least enlist sympathy for a comrade. So it did, but nothing will come of it. He watches the cabinet leave.

Afterwards he lashes out and topples the podium. He was unable to change the minds of the men and women in the room, but he will not give up. He looks up at the projection screen. A photo of a human family being herded into a big metal box. Charles knows from being there that several large crushed metal containers were found when they liberated France. He knows that family is dead. He knows there is only one man alive who had to the power to kill them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated:
> 
> Why didn't I anyone tell me I was calling him 'colonel' in this chapter when he's a 'captain'? Bad readers, bad! No cookies!


	3. Picnic on the Hill

Bastgone, Belgium April 1962

 

The house that command has given him is small.

Charles and his new wife walk from the front door, to the back door in under one minute. They laugh about it together in the kitchen/living/dining area. Moira was a Special Forces officer and an intelligence agent. She met him while operating a spy ring in Brussels that led to the capture of smugglers from Shaw’s regime. He was only there to help clean up a messy bar fight one of his students started. He found himself on the floor looking up her skirt while she pointed a shotgun at him. It was love at first sight.

When he revealed himself to be a telepath, she eagerly allowed him access to her mind. When he proposed marriage, she eagerly accepted his mother’s ring. So they find themselves both young and retired from the military, given a house in Belgium with the loose of orders to stay alert.

They have several months to settle in their tiny house. Charles takes a teaching position at the new university. Moira stays at home, still cracking codes for the military but now she has a civilian contract. Charles is happy. Moira is happy. Charles is confident they can now expand their family. He sends for his sister from America and Raven joins them in the tiny house.

One afternoon Raven comes home in tears, “Charles!” She runs up to her brother’s bedroom on the second floor. “Charles! Are you home?”

Charles takes a moment to answer her, grading papers.  Charles doesn’t move from his bed, comfortable in only his bathrobe and surrounded by papers. He wasn’t expecting her back for a while and had planned to spend the evening reenacting scenes from his honeymoon with Moira.

“I’m in bed,” he calls out, “Moira went out for groceries. Aren’t you supposed to be a date with a certain charming Frenchmen?” He asks smirking until she comes into the room. Her face is tear stained and she’s out of breath from running. “My, god Raven! What’s happened?”

She rushes over Charles, “Its Paul, he was taken. We were going to meet at that big hill outside of town for a picnic,” she hiccups and sobs into his shoulder. “By the time I got there, there was barricade up. Soldiers said some men from across the border came and abducted some human boys. It was Paul! I know it was. He wasn’t at the hill. He wasn’t at home. He gone, he’s just gone!”

Charles cradles her in his arms for a moment, rubbing her back and rocking her back and forth. He doesn’t know what else to do. Raven is seventeen, and Jean-Paul was going to propose to her tonight. Charles was going to be the best man at the wedding, he had already made plans for the months and years ahead. Raising a family next door to his sister and brother-in-law. Growing old with the love of his life, traveling the world, and teaching. This puts a wrench in everything. He can’t imagine not telling her the truth. She hasn’t been affected by the war. Raven was sheltered in America in a house with high gates. She doesn’t understand that all of Europe is still a war zone. And he’s the one who thought bringing her here was a good idea. He closes his eyes and tries reaching out his mind to find Raven’s boyfriend but there is no sign of the boy for a hundred miles.

When he opens his eyes, Raven is already staring up at him expecting an answer about Paul’s whereabouts. There nothing for it but to tell the truth. “This happens sometimes. The neutral land between here and Germany is governed by Lehnsherr. Everyone knows he’s a human trafficker.”

“If everyone knows, why aren’t we doing something? What was point of the war if he can still do things like this! We have to get him back, Charles, please.” She continues to cry. “He’s the only human boy who thought I was beautiful just as I am. I have to find him!”

“Raven,” Charles starts. But he can’t think of anything else to say. At most he can petition a search for the boy or ask for his official return. “I’m sorry, Raven. I wish I had an army at my disposal.”

“You could if you wanted to!” She shakes him, “I know you don’t like using your powers, but you have to help Charles! You could help me rescue Paul and no one ever has to know about it-“

Charles cuts her off, “I would know. And that’s not… Lehnsherr has a powerful telepath in his ranks. And many in his army wear helmets that make it impossible for me to use my use my telepathy in first place. That’s how I got shot in first place. I couldn’t touch the mind of the soldier pointing a gun at me. I could only watch.”

Raven considers this and tenses in his arms. “They could be doing anything to Jean-Paul. Charles please, think of something! What about your old army buddies or Moira’s spies or damn it anything! What was the point of you dragging me here if it wasn’t safe?”

She rages and leaves the room slamming the door shut.

Charles takes a deep breath and tries reaching farther to find the boy. He comes up empty. By the time Moira comes home both of the Xavier siblings are red-eyed and sobbing.

 


	4. The Rhineland

Germany’s Neutral Zone February 1963

The treaty declares that the land west of the river Rhine is neutral. The land is governed by General Lehnsherr and Commander Frost. In writing it was supposed to be the gates to the Shaw’s Germany, letting outsiders in for trade and dealing with Humans, as all Humans have been banned from Germany. In a mass exodus Shaw allowed many of the Jews from Hitler’s reign to leave seeking refuge in their new state, as part of his treaty with allied forces.

Charles is crossing into the Rhineland with only a handful of men. He’s used his powers to turn heads and keeps the crossing secret. They are headed towards where a new military warehouse is fenced in with large gates and barbed wire. His small group wanders over to a hill where an official outpost stands. There’s only a handful of guards transmitting orders on the radio. Charles can see three outside the gate are wearing helmets, but the man on the radio is a bareheaded soldier. Charles takes this man and sees through his eyes.

_He finds the man name is Johann. He’s a secretary for the warehouse and has three boys. He’s worried about the weight he’s gained, and his thinning red hair. He really likes his mustache. He has been working for Shaw for ten years and has seen horrible things. More importantly he knows the direct lines of all the Generals and Commanders in the army._

_Inside the outpost Johann looks around. Charles directs him to find a map for all the human camps. The man searches his desk and pulls out a map marked in red around various locations in the Rhineland. Charles then looks around to find what the man knows about his superior officers._

_To Johann, they are all terrible. But as a mutant with low level plasma ability, they are a necessary evil. Johann knows almost nothing about Shaw, only that he is in Berlin. He knows Frost is with him. He has met Erik Lehnsherr in person before. The man was tall and handsome, commanding his respect and admiration. Other than occasionally receiving shipping orders, he has no relationship with Lehnsherr. He does know one high-ranking officer personally. Colonel Frederick Dukes has a large family of American nieces and nephews that have immigrated to Berlin._ That’s perfect, thinks Charles. He directs Johann to leave a coded message to Berlin.

Once that’s finish, Charles directs Johann to find which camp has recently received youths from across the border. He then asks Johann if a mutant woman and a human spy were discovered.

_Charles hearts breaks a little as he clearly sees Raven and Moira as they were seven months ago. They were bought in on a truck to this very outpost. Johann asked the captor in charge what they needed from the warehouse. A giant brute of man with fang teeth grinned while holding Raven closer, “We need dresses and teacups, Mr. Cupboard. We’re gonna have ourselves a little tea party back at Camp 9.” The other men with him cheer and Johann happily shows the man, a mercenary called Creed to where the goods are. Johann barely hesitated to follow orders, even after taking note of the condition of the women. He suspected they both had been raped and beaten. He went inside himself and picked out a yellow dress for the blue girl and drab brown tunic for the human woman._

The men with Charles are awaiting his orders. He instructs Johann to take a walk outside, to climb the top tower and to jump off head first. There’s a commotion as his peers rush to his aid.

Charles and his men quietly slip away unseen.

They make it to a small abandoned shed that’s riddled in bullet holes and decorated with old rusty machine parts.

Charles leads the men inside. The five men are volunteers from his old regiment of mixed American and British soldiers. Darwin, Alex, and Sean are from America. They’re basically kids, but Charles trusts them a great deal. Brian is a British veteran soldier who taught Charles basic training. Daniel was a British foot soldier and has ties to Moira’s spy ring.

“Sir,” Darwin says sitting down passing a canteen to his mates, “What did you find in there that would make it worth killing a man? I know you. You wouldn’t do something like that without reason.

Charles doesn’t answer right away so Alex prods him, “Come on. We’ve followed you this far. Nothing’s going change that Charles. But you have to be upfront with us on this mission. We’re volunteers remember?”

Charles nods, “Yes and I thank you, Alex. All of you. I’m sorry for not telling you anything sooner. Back there, I learned that man had supplied the men who captured Raven and Moira. I may have lost my temper a little.”

Daniel whistles, “Remind me to stay on your good side.”

They all laugh but Charles can only grimace. He never enjoys taking a life or hurting people. But the people who work for Shaw aren’t reasonable thinking beings. They are driven by revenge and power. Some of them are flat out cowards. Charles hasn’t an ounce of sympathy for Mr. Johann.

“The men have taken Raven and Moira to Camp 9. It’s about two miles up the river from here. And… I think Moira was pregnant.”

“What?!”

“She was protecting her middle, I couldn’t- Johann couldn’t see but he believed so. She must have already been so when she left with Raven. She just didn’t know. She couldn’t have gone on such a dangerous mission behind my back and pregnant with my child, she just wouldn’t do something like that.” Charles sits quietly in a corner of the shed.

Sean starts making a cold dinner and passing around cups of beans and water to the others. “Eat something Charles. You need to be strong when we get there.”

Charles doesn’t think he can keep any food down with the way his emotions are roiling around in his gut. He’s not imagining things. He’s sure Johann saw the curve of her belly and believed it was true as he handpicked a loose fitting shift dress.

Charles rushes up from where he is sat to go outside. The others leave him be as goes to a nearby tree and quietly sobs.


	5. Release

Germany’s Neutral Zone February 1963

Charles and his team marches up to the camp. Charles tries to find any guards without helmets. There is a few scattered around the guard’s mess hall. They aren’t armed in there and would be of little help to Charles. Instead he instructs one guard to collect two spare uniforms and to bring them outside later tonight. Even with the helmet on again later, the suggestion should hold.

They wait until night to see if the man follows through. They have to stay hidden from the guard towers, so Charles and his team huddle together in a ditch just out of sight. They wait and the man eventually comes to them. He’s dressed down like he’s leaving for the night and has two bags over his shoulders. He throws one bags into the ditch and keeps on without even looking at them.

Darwin raises an eyebrow, “Good work, Professor. Now who’s going in there?”

Charles and Alex dig out the uniforms. “Whoever fits the clothes gets to go check out the fort,” says Alex. He finds that one suit seems just his size. The other would fit Charles. “You did that on purpose.”

Charles grins unbuttoning his coat and taking off his boots. “If I put on the helmet I will be defenseless.” He stretches out his bad leg. It doesn’t ache but he’s not doing it any favors with this march into enemy territory. “I’ll need a bodyguard if things go south. Darwin and Sean you stay down here and keep watch. Let us know if we need to get out of there.”

Daniel hands them both small handie-talkies. “These are the newest things. You press here,” he indicates a switch on one side, “and we can hear everything going on in there. The microphone is very powerful.”

Brandon hands them both knives and guns, “Compliments of his Majesty, King Churchill.” He grins like he told the funniest joke and the whole company rolls their eyes.

Alex slaps the man on shoulder, “That’s still not funny. Captain Union Jack.”

Everyone huffs out a laugh. Charles would go into detail about the time Brandon wore a flag into the battle, but now is not the time. He and Alex quickly gets undressed while the others respectfully find something else to look at or do. Except Darwin. He quickly smirks at Alex. Alex blushes and Charles isn’t going to bother taking a peek into their minds. They’ve been obvious about their relationship for quite some time and while Charles has never been attracted to men, he’s not going judge his comrades for finding love in the trenches. It was a long war after all.

When they finish changing Alex sits his helm on top of his head. Everyone looks at Charles and he holds his breath. He puts the thing on and instantly everything goes black.

When he comes to, he’s surrounded by the concerned faces of his men. Alex checks his pulse and Brandon looks like he’s about to remove the helmet.

Charles takes Brandon’s wrist, “It’s alright. I just need a moment to adjust. The world looks different without my eyes working probably. You all look terrible.”

He sits up and accepts a hand from Daniel. The blond hair tech enthusiast hands him another contraption. “This is a micro-transmitter. It sends a signal that we can detect from this,” he holds out a bulky looking display module.   “We’ll know where to find you in that labyrinth of hell if anything goes wrong. Don’t worry. We’ll track your every move.”

Charles accepts the thing. “Thank you, my friend. You’ve all done so much for me. I could never repay you.”

“Liar,” calls Sean. “I know for a fact you’re a secret millionaire or something. You can afford to pay us all back when this over.”

Charles smiles, “I love you too, Sean.”

Alex shakes them both, “That’s enough of that. We’ve got some women to save. Over the ditch, Charles.”

Charles accept some prodding from Alex as he climbs up over the ditch and starts down the road that leads to the gate. They walk in silence until they reach the perimeter. There a spotlight shines on them. A gatekeeper comes to the wall and asks them for identification.

Alex does a perfect salute. Then Charles offers a messy, inexpert one. Alex rolls his eyes. “I believe you’re expecting us? I’m Sgt. Keller. I’m escorting Herr Dukes for a tour of the camps.”

Alex looks appropriately grim for his role. Charles smiles from ear to ear and the guard blanches at the sight of him. “I see a command from this morning… You are one of Frederick Dukes’ relatives?” The man looks like he can’t believe what he’s seeing.

Charles continues smiling and batting his eyes. The man’s color return when he blushes and Charles tries out an American accent. “Uncle Freddy thinks a tour of the camps and forts will give me character. So we’ve been driving around all week taking a look at things. This is the first labor camp we’ve seen though. I’m ever so excited to see the mines. It is rather late though, is anyone still working?”

The gatekeeper and Alex share a knowing look, and Alex continues playing his role perfectly, “Someone is definitely working Herr Dukes. Would you like me to stay for your tour or go back to the town for our car?”

The gatekeeper looks behind them, “Why did you leave your car?”

Charles grins and looks up at the sky, “I wanted to see the stars! It’s marvelously clear out tonight, isn’t it?”

At this point the gatekeeper looks tired of Charles and shows Alex sympathy for having to deal with a privileged civilian all week. “You can take one of our cars back. Stay with your escort and stay out of trouble. Open the gate.”

They walk in and Charles immediately flinches at the sight of one of the prisoners. A pale gaunt ghost, walking solemnly from gatehouse carrying water. “Is it safe to let them loose like that?”

The gatekeeper laughs. “Humans aren’t even proper people anymore. This one doesn’t care if it lives or dies. It just wants to work and sleep. They’re all like that. You’re perfectly safe here.” He tells another soldier to come relieve him. Then assumes the role as Charles’s guide, “I’m Major Brahms, it’ll be my pleasure to guide you through the camps, Herr Dukes.”

Charles extends his hand in greeting, “Please call me Chuckie, all my friends do.”

Brahms laughs shakes Charles hand gently, like he expects the man to break. “A pleasure, Chuckie. This way.” He turns on his heel and leads them into the camp. Brahms seems intent on shocking Charles from the start and takes them past a string of posts that’s holding the upside-down corpses of human prisoners.

Charles barely controls the rage he feels at seeing this, but keeps his act together. “What did they do?” He asks innocently batting his eyes.

Brahms takes advantage of what he thinks is a weaker man. He wraps his arm around Charles’s shoulder and leads him away. “My apologies, Chuckie. I forgot they were there. You want to see the mines, right?” He puts himself between Charles and Alex and takes them to a bunk house.

“This is interesting. There’s no doors? What if it gets cold or rains or something?”

The gatekeeper walks Charles up to the doorway where two guard stand with their eyes forward not asking about Charles or the new soldier in their mists. Charles takes a careful look around to commit the faces of every captive to memory. None of them are Moira and none of the faces are familiar enough to be something Raven would shape. He feels frustrated but still keeps playing along.

“Surely they’re not all like this. I can see eight cabins here. You can’t have two guards at all of these staring off into space. And what about attack? Aren’t you afraid of uprising or something? What if they, I don’t know try something sneaky?” He puts emphasis on ‘sneaky; and the gatekeeper seems really amused with his naivety.

“We have ways of keeping control. The bunks are always full but they only house a small percentage of humans at one time. If everyone can’t fit in the bed, they go back to work. They finish work and find a bed, its simple. And sometimes we find other uses for them.” He grins and Charles feels himself trembling from pure hate. The man takes it to mean he’s somewhat intimated.

The guard leads them to another doorway and this time when Charles looks in, he gasps. In the farthest corner there’s a bunk bed holding ten small children on the top and three women and a baby on the bottom. One of the women is Moira. Skinny and ashen, but definitely his wife.

Charles discreetly presses the button on the handie-talkie twice. “Is that a baby over there? Do you separate the women and children…?” He takes a step back and looks at the number in the doorway, “Cabin 3 is for women and children only?”

The gatekeeper shakes his head releases Charles and starts to walk away quickly, “No, no. But enough of their stench. You want to see the mines yes? Come with me, I have a real special sight for you below.” He waggles his eyebrows at Charles before turning and expecting them to follow him.

Charles lingers in the doorway. Moira sits up and holds the baby to her chest. The other women move closer together to keep warm. Alex covers him by bending down and pretending to tie his shoes. Charles steps inside to get a closer look at Moira. She’s too well-trained and disciplined to call out to him. He merely nods at her and lets her know she’s been seen and she will be rescued. She sighs in relief and sinks back down in the bed.

“Eh, Chuckie, what’s keeping you?” Brahms calls from up the path. Charles plasters his fake happy-go-lucky smile back on and jogs over to the gatekeeper. He takes the man’s arm and looks around in wonder, “Show me everything Major. I can’t want to tell Uncle Freddy about how much I’ve learned. Maybe he’ll really let me be soldier someday!” Charles has never been more thankful for his boyish face. When we he first enlisted, he had to bring two witnesses to swear he was indeed legal. That was saying something in an army of illegal age children.

Brahms takes a tighter hold of Charles’s arm taking a look back at his escort. He has the audacity to lean into Charles ear, “You like pretty things, Herr Dukes? There’s gold in this mine. I can’t wait to see your blue eyes light up when you see it. But that’s only the tip of the show. We have a regular marvel here. A mutant traitor! You’ll love this, Chuckie! Your uncle is going to be very impressed with your report! He’ll make you a real soldier and you can come here and train with me, eh?” He holds Charles closer.

Charles finds his right hand is shaking and instinctively he’s reaching for the knife he has concealed his belt. He has to fight the urge to take it and stab the odious man in the eye. The man leads him to where the coal mine shaft opens. Everything is covered with dark dust and there’s not a glimmer of gold to be seen. There’s rigging to bring the poor souls slaving up and down the dark cavern. Charles stops as Brahms releases him to bow with a flourish.

“Here she is our own little Princess.” He laughs and looks to Charles. Charles forces a tight smile on his face. The sight of his sister, shackled to a mass of metal jutting out the ground is sickening. She’s wearing that yellow dress they gave her at the warehouse. It’s in tatters and bloodstained. Her natural blue scales look faded even in the dark. Her hair is lank and filthy from the coal coming out of the mine. She doesn’t attempt to get up and see who’s come forward. Charles holds back before she can recognize him.

Brahms’s grin falters, “Are you alright, young man?”

Charles shakes his head, “It’s my stomach. I’m afraid I forgot to eat before we left. I was so in a hurry to see the camp. This has been an exciting day, I’m afraid I may have overdid things… a bit.” He bites his lip and looks up at the guard from under his lashes hoping the man will behave as he wants.

Brahms smiles from ear to ear as he throws an arm over Charles, “Come then. I’ll take you back to my quarters. I can get you something to nip on from the mess. I don’t want you weary from traveling back into town at this hour. You can stay the night here, little Chuckie.”

Alex comes upon them looking grim. He’s not happy with the way the Major speaks to Charles. He’s not playing a role when he shoves a hand against the man’s chest, “I have orders to protect Herr Dukes. He is still only a civilian and it would not be proper to leave him here overnight. I’m taking him back to town.”

Charles appreciates the token protest, it goes along with the plan. “Oh, but we can stay. I’m sure Uncle Freddy wouldn’t mind if I stayed and learned more about the barracks before I go to the recruiters. He already thinks I’m too delicate and should stay in politics, but what use is a politician who has never fought for his fellow mutant?”

Brahms is overjoyed to hear this little speech. He slaps Charles on the back, “That is what we need around here. Passion! I can tell you are a very passionate young man, eh. Come on, I take you back to my quarters and feed that passion. You sir,” he points at Alex, “Can go to the mess and get something for yourself eh?”

Charles allows himself to be lead away from his only protection. He clicks the radio twice more to let the others know he and Alex are separating.

Brahms lead Charles to his private quarters, all the while keeping a hand on the small of his back. When they finally reach the officer’s room, Brahms smiles and takes off his helmet, then his belt. He motions for Charles to do so as well. “Relax, Chuckie. Take some time to rest and get comfortable in here.” Charles nods along and removes his helmet. The change is instant. He feels like he’s trapped in a miasma of despair. It’s coming from the bunk houses. And the mines.

“You said there was gold in the coal mine?”

Brahms pours a drink. He offers it to Charles but the telepath shakes his head no. “My tummy still aches.”

Brahms smirks, “Your tummy—oi. I’m not going to survive the night.”

“Pardon?”

Brahms drops all pretense and takes Charles roughly by the shoulders, “We can stop dancing around each other, Chuckie. I know what American boys like you need. Just say the word, and I’ll give it to you.”

Charles ducks his head pretending to be shy, masking his disgust as well. “Oh gee, Mr. Brahms. I didn’t know I was being so… transparent. You won’t tell anyone will you? And what about Sgt. Keller?”

Brahms makes a show of locking the door. “What your babysitter can’t see, can’t hurt him. Come here little mouse.”

Charles evades the man gets to the other side of the room, “We don’t even know each other,” he says aloud all the while he’s shuffling through Brahms’s thoughts. Brahms is focusing on timetables, when he will have to report back to the gate, a conversation he had with a man named Quested this morning.   Frost requested prisoners to be sent to her in Berlin to experiment. He already made up his mind to send Raven. He’s thinking Victor Creed will be back later and there’s chance that offering the man a bit of this naive boy will win him some favor. He wonders if there’s a way to keep Fred Dukes from finding out.

“Tell me little mouse, what is your mutation?”

Charles goes to the one window in the room and turns his back on the Major. He clicks the handie-talkie again. “I’m an empath. Sometimes other people’s feelings overwhelm me. Sometimes I can make people feel things too.”

Brahms has a nasty looking smile plastered to his face Charles turns back around. The other man comes in closer brackets Charles with his arms. “You’re certainly having an effect on me, little Chuckie. Give us a kiss, my little mouse.”

Charles is halfway across the room when Brahms takes an imaginary Charles into his arms and begins to make loud slurping noises as he kisses the air. Charles rolls his eyes and unlocks the door. Just outside of it stands Alex. He’s holding two helmets that he chucks inside the room with Brahms. He gets a look at the man and makes a face, “What are you… no I don’t want to know.”

They have to hurry back to somewhere private to report to each other. They stand on the side of one the barracks and out of sight. Charles pulls out his radio, “We going to try extracting Raven first. She’s out in the open.”

Darwin responds, “Are you sure you can get that far.”

Two men without helmets come out of the mess. They approach Alex and Charles and salute. Charles has been working on them since Alex got their helmets. They lead Charles and Alex back to the mine and unshackle Raven. Raven barely looks up to see what’s going on.

Charles bends down and tilts her head up, “Raven. Raven, look at me. I need you to wake up Raven. Stay calm and act like everything is perfectly normal.”

She finally starts to register his voice. She cracks one swollen eye open and moans, “Charles?”

Alex and the two men help her onto her feet. Raven looks like she’s about to panic but Charles raises an eyebrow, “Quiet sister. Our friends here are just taking you to our new car. I’m going to go get Moira and baby.”

Raven nods in understanding and feigns weakness. She lets the men drag her off to a car.

Charles and Alex march behind with some authority. A man asks them where they are headed with Creed’s pet. Charles drops the doe-eyed act he put on for Brahms. “I’m here on behalf of her ladyship, Commander Frost. She’s requested a set a prisoners for a special project.”

The soldier is not the kind of man to ask questions, he lets the four men and the girl go into the vehicle yard. They grab a truck that already has keys in the ignition. “Stay here with Raven while I take them to get Moira and the baby.”

Raven grabs his arm before he can go. “Lucas. Your son is named Lucas.”

Charles feels his eyes well up. He marches back to his wife and child commanding the two galvanized soldiers behind him. He stops in front Cabin 3. This time he’s commanding and looks the two guards in the eye. “If you’re interested, you have both failed inspection at this point.”

The men look on confused. One has the nerve to speak, “What inspection, Herr Dukes?”

Charles rolls his eyes, “I am not the nephew of that great bloated, idiot. I work for Lady Frost. She’s authorized me to investigate all of Lehnsherr’s projects for security risks since she cannot check for herself. Remove your helmets and allow her to scan you.” He pulls out a pocket watch, “You have thirty seconds to comply.”

The pressure of a ticking clock from a man in charge is enough to rush the inept guards to remove their helmets. Charles quickly influences them. He orders them to stand down as his other puppets moves in to collect Moira and the baby.

They salute each other and Charles finds the whole thing rather comical. He winds up with an escort of four enemy soldiers when he reaches the vehicle yard. Moira and Raven hunker down in the backseat. Charles tells the guards to go open the gate and let them out. One guard takes the wheel. Charles and Alex sit in the front with their driver.

They make it out of the gate smoothly and down the road. Charles sends the man to sleep and kicks him out of driver’s seat while the car is still moving. He moves over to takes the wheel. Ravens laughs from behind him, “Charles. I can’t believe it’s really you. How on earth did you find us?”

Charles looks at the women through the rear view mirror. He’s so happy he never sees the two bodies in the road.


	6. The Betrayal

Location Unknown, March 1963

 

Time has been fuzzy for Charles lately. He remembers screaming and an explosion. The truck coming to a halt before suddenly it went up in flames. He remembers being pulled out by his hair. He tried lashing out with his powers but nothing happened. Then everything went dark.

He woke up screaming. There was a bright light and then the covered face of a surgeon. The hazy image of a man with eyes crinkling, whispering to him with scalpel in hand. “To understand, we first have to take things apart. Breaking it down to the essential components. You really are exquisite Charles. How could I pass the chance—”

Charles was out again before the voice could finish.

When he next woke he felt like he was wearing the helmet. His hands were strapped down so he couldn’t reach up, but he was definitely blocked off from his powers. Charles tried calling out, but his voice was thin and hoarse from misuse.

Hours, days, or weeks later he woke up again. This time he wasn’t in the pristine and sterile hospital room. This time he was laying in dirt. He coughed and turned over on his side. He looked around and took in his surroundings. A solid metal cell with a thin window of metal bars, the charming dirt floor he was already acquainted with and a single mattress of dirty sheets.

He didn’t care about any of that because on top of the dirty sheets were the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. His wife, his child, and his sister were huddled together. He sat up and stared at them while they all slept. The baby took in small shallow breathes and Raven’s face was tear stained. Moira was very thin. She slept with her back to Raven and the baby, keeping them safe even in her sleep.

Charles felt tears rolls down his face as he leaned over. He gently shook Moira on the shoulder. The woman came to quickly and punched Charles in the throat. Charles finds himself on the flat of his back with her hovering over him with something sharp in her hand. It’s a sharpened hairpin. Charles can’t help feeling proud.

Moira finally recognizes him, “Charles?” She lets up and pulls him to sit up as well. The baby and Raven stirs until they are sitting up and staring at each other. He hesitates before going to his family.

“I thought I would never see you again,” he whispers into Raven’s hair while clutching his wife and child. He pulls back as Moira lifts the baby. “And you. I’m afraid I didn’t even get to meet you properly.”

Moira smiles sadly, “His name is Lucas… I’m so sorry Charles. I didn’t know. I didn’t know… I didn’t know.” She starts crying and Charles holds her while Raven takes the baby.

Raven looks better than she did last time. Charles is still a mess time wise. He asks them about what’s happened since they attempted to escape Camp 9.

Before Moira can explain, they all hear a loud clank of a metal door opening.

Charles stares up at the bars of their cell with wide eyes. “You?”

Daniel smiles down at the little family, “Heil Hydra.”

Charles is about to stand up and try to attack the door, but another figure comes into view. He pushes Daniel aside. This is the tall handsome man in Johann’s memory. Magneto himself, Erik Lehnsherr. The General runs his fingers up and downs the bars. “I told you to stop that Hydra nonsense. No one cares about your din of snakes.”

Daniel frowns, “You’ve never been one for mythos have you, Erik? It’s a shame your father deprived you of art as a child.”

Erik’s grin is shark like and menacing, “Very funny Mr. Whitehall. All I need is a report. Is he ready?”

Erik focuses on Charles. Moira, bless her heart tries to get in front of her husband, but he stands up. He goes over to the bars and looks up into Lehnsherr’s eyes. “My name is Charles Xavier. I’m a captain of the United Armed Forces of Freed Europe. I demand that you let us go.”

Erik smiles and Charles looks down to find his dog tags now hovering just over his heart.

“I know who you are, Charles. I know all about you. I’ve been paying very close attention to you since the battle of Dijon. You were the one protecting that school. You’re the reason we had to mandate wearing helmets into the field.”

Charles is surprised to hear that. He always thought the telepathy blocking helmets were a precaution Shaw took against Essex and Frost. The battle of Dijon was where he first saw any real action almost ten years ago. At the time, he was trying to save innocent people by turning the invading forces around and out the city. The University of Burgundy had gifted him with a collection rare first editions. Of all the battles he’s been in, it’s the only one to end on a bloodless note.

He steps closer to the bars despite hearing a hiss of warning from Moira behind him.

“What did you do to me?”

Lehnsherr smiles again and steps back. The familiar face of Daniel comes up. “Don’t sound so sour, Charlie. It was just a little experiment. I’ve had time to perfect it on other psychics over the years, but you are definitely a work of art. You’re completely cut off from your powers, and I barely cut into you at all. I consider it quite the success.”

Charles lifts his hand to his head. About two inches of hair has been shaved over both of his temples. He can feel the stitches still healing his scalp. He looks up at Daniel in disbelief. “The others. What did you do to the others?”

Daniel shrugs carelessly, “They weren’t really the prize. I let Alex go. He seemed all shook up about finding Sean and Brandon in the road. Sean and Captain Britain are very dead though. My condolences. Oh and I’m still not sure where Darwin flew off to, but I’m sure we’ll catch him eventually. If it’s any consolation, at least one member of your team is fine. I’ve never been healthier.” He laughs and Charles can’t restrain himself any more. He lashes out tries to get his hand through the bars. Daniel simply walks away. Up close to the bars, Charles can see the hall of the prison. They are underground and there are other metal cells lining the walls. One door leads to stairs at the end the hall and that’s probably the only way in or out of this level.

Charles is trying to put together a plan for escaping when Erik comes very close to the door. This time he has trouble keeping his eyes up. The other man gets closer and closer until he’s got his face pressed up to the bars. He lets his nose brush against the back of Charles knuckles. Charles withdraws his hands like he’s been burnt. “What the fuck!”

Erik grins again. “I’ll give you a day. Goodnight, Charles.”

Charles sits back down with his family.

Moira sighs and pulls him close. “At least we’re together now.”

Charles knows he’s his wife and sister has seen horror since they were capture. “Being together isn’t enough. I want everyone who’s ever hurt you to burn.”

Raven laughs and hands the baby over to Moira. “Now he’s had enough. Too bad it’s too late to do anything.”

Moira slaps her sister-in-law. Charles has to still her hand to keep her from doing it again. “Stop talking like that. We bought this on ourselves going off after that boy.” She looks angry and Charles is heartbroken because he can’t touch and soothe her mind right now.

He tries embracing her instead. She allows him to settles against her side. She feels like a bag of bones in his arms. He tries to hold her gently, but she returns the hug with strong arms. “I’m not made out of glass you know.”

He smiles, “Since when do you read my mind.”

“Since always.” Charles leans in to kiss his wife when the baby cries.

Raven is trying to rock him back to sleep. It’s not working so she hands him to Moira. Charles suspects the boy is hungry and expects the new mother to feed him, but Moira sadly shakes her head no. “I haven’t milk left Charles. He’s hungry.” Lucas chooses then to cough and Moira transfers him to her shoulder to pat his back. “He’s sick with something too. I don’t know what to do here, Charles.”

Charles is overwhelmed with everything that’s happened. He never thought he would wake up to such a nightmare. He’s still shaken by Daniel’s betrayal when the door opens again. Someone is whistling outside the cell.

Raven starts to wail and scrambles back against the farthest wall.

Moira goes to her and pulls Charles along too. “It’s Creed. He keeps coming back for her again and again.”

Moira presses the sharp hairpin into his hand and they don’t need to speak to know they will attack this man together to protect Raven.

Creed finally stops whistling, he holds a hand up to the cell window, “Now then. Who’s it gonna be today. Ohhhh. If isn’t Sleeping Beauty. I was wondering when I'd see you again. ‘Member me?” He leans against the door. He lewdly licks his mouths like he’s in a buffet line. He doesn’t give any warning before he tries to pull the door open.

“The hell?” He yanks and yanks but the door doesn’t give way.

So he slams a hand against the door. “That walking-fucking-compass.” He snarls and turns away.

Charles gets up to examine to door. It’s been fused to the metal wall. No one is getting in or out without Erik’s permission. It’s not ideal, but at least his family is safe for the moment he goes back to Moira and Raven and huddles with them. “Let’s get some rest while we can.”


	7. The Band Plays On

Location Unknown, March 1963

What little safety they thought they had is dashed the next day when a cloud of smoke appears and rends the little family apart.

Charles finds himself in the cell opposite of his wife and child. He calls out to them but the being that stole him away reappears inside the women’s cell. It takes Raven and rematerialized just outside of Charles’s door.

Charles bangs on the door, “Who are you! What are you doing!?”

Charles thinks for a moment that the man or demon or mutant can’t hear him. He bangs on the door again, “Stop it! Let my sister go! She’s only a child for god’s sake!”

“And you’re not?”

The voice of Erik Lehnsherr slithers from down the hall. The door to his cell opens and Charles is standing opposite his sister and the demon. At the end of the hall, the open door reveals a panting Creed standing just behind Lehnsherr in the doorway. Charles can hear a low growling sound. It’s like being stalked by a wild animal. And he’s pretty sure he and Raven are the prey. From inside the opposite cell, Moira calls out his name.

Charles is torn between his family and how to act. Without his powers he’s just an unarmed man with a bad leg. And a hairpin. He looks straight to the leader, “Let her go.”

Lehnsherr smiles softly at him and Charles can’t help but find it unnerving. It’s the kind of look you give to a lesser animal when you think they’re cute and obviously non-threatening. Charles decides he’s had enough of that look.

The demon’s tail is swinging back and forth in the narrow hall between the cells. Charles reaches over and quickly stabs at the red man’s tail. The teleporter lets go of Raven before disappearing then reappearing in Charles’s face.

Charles finds himself being strangled by the man’s thick red hands _and_ his tail. By the time Charles fears he’s about to pass out, Lehnsherr calls off his teleporting brute. “Enough. I came down here to give you a choice, Professor. We can skip it altogether if you like and I can just let Azazel kill you now.”

Charles has to gasp for air. He tries to stand up straighter and make himself appear bigger and therefore more imposing when he says, “What do you want?”

Lehnsherr look so serious and grave. There’s something so sad and desperate in his eyes and one would think he didn’t delight in torturing women and children. Charles knows better. Still he’s not expecting the answer that the infamous Magneto gives him.

“I want you.”

Charles stares wide-eyed and disbelieving. He doesn’t ask the man to repeat himself, but doesn’t think he heard right, either.

Lehnsherr gestures for Creed to come forward. He has a cart behind him. It has two covered dishes and what appears to be a bottle of milk.

“This is for you, Charles. You can have it. Feed your baby. Feed your wife. Take care of your little family. All you have do is say yes. But if you agree to be mine you have to understand the consequences if you disobey me. I don’t operate with half measures. First strike, and I take your baby away.” He says this as he walks over the cell and peers inside. It makes Charles’s skin crawl just to see the man looking at them.

“Then your wife,” he continues.

“Then I get rid of you altogether,” he says carelessly, “and use your sister instead. You understand.”

He says this as if it makes all the sense in the world, like he’s giving simple instructions to child. “Nod, if you understand me, Charles.”

Charles offers a weak nod.

“Good. This is all for you if you agree. However, I don’t want you to think there’s no choice here, Charles.” Charles feels his face pulling tight in confusion.

Erik comes closer and leans against the wall a few feet away with same sad and desperate look in his eyes. “However, I don’t want you to fight me. You have the freedom right now to say no.” He stands straighter before Charles can answer and adds, “And face those consequences.”

Charles is almost scared to ask, he knows he’s being baited. “And if I say no.”

“Then we continue on. No food for humans in my house, Charles. I won’t lay a finger on your sister, but Creed can keep on using her. Hell the whole army can have her for all I care. You’re both the worst kind of mutant turncoat.” The man snarls and looks into the cell holding the women. “Pretending to fight for our rights out there amongst the scum of humanity. Helping them to undermine the future of our race. And for god sake’s Charles,” he looks back at Charles like he’s disappointed. “Breeding with them. This simply will not do for the future. For your sake I hope the brat has potential.”

Raven is shaking. She’s adopted a more defensive position like she will lash out at any moment to protect Charles.

Charles looks at Moira through the bars. She can already tell what he going to do and she shakes her head no. She doesn’t say it outright, but he knows she rather die than eat the food on the cart. The problem is Charles rather they all live.

“If I say yes,” he starts, “Will you let them go?”

“No.” Erik says pointedly. “But I will protect them. I swear to you, if you behave yourself, you will never again have to worry about your family. I will see to all their needs from now on.”

Raven starts to launch herself at Erik, but Azazel has taken her back into her cell and reappeared just outside its door before she could attack him. He laughs at her when she rushes to the door and slams her hands against it. Erik silences his red henchman and turns his attention back to Charles. “Should I let her back out for Creed, Charles? Now’s the time to make up your mind.”

Charles doesn’t want his sister to see him surrender. He feels as tears silently roll down his face and doesn’t look back at the barred hole where Moira is still looking on at the scene. He retreats into the open cell and sits with his back to the wall. He pulls his knees up to his chest and watches as a dark shadow falls in the doorway. Erik actually comes inside and kneels down beside him. He tugs at Charles’s chin until the younger man looks him in the eye. Softly he says, “Is that a no, Charles?”

Charles wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. “You have a deal, Magneto. Save my family from your animals, and you can do whatever you want to me.”

The man gives Charles a fond look, again like he’s just bought a new puppy. “As you wish Charles.” He leans over and noses the space between Charles ear and neck before softly kissing him on the cheek. “Anything you want. I promise. And call me Erik. When we’re together, just call me Erik,” he says breathlessly as he kisses Charles just above the eye then cheek again.

Charles stops the man from coming closer, shoving a brave hand into the solid chest of his captor. “My son is hungry.”

Erik sits back on his knees and laughs. “Yes of course. But first, give me that bit of metal in your hand.”

Charles drops it, regretting for a moment that he didn’t think to stab this man in the neck while he was close. Erik seems to know what Charles is thinking. He reshapes until it’s a harmless ball. He leans over again and kisses Charles on the forehead before quickly getting back up on his feet. He tells Azazel to give the women their food cart and to leave. He bluntly orders Creed to get lost.

The fanged predator in hallway growls loudly before huffing away but Charles ignores it. He keeps on sitting in the same spot and staring at the wall ahead. He doesn’t know what to expect next.

Erik comes back inside. He’s left the door open. Charles knows if he stuck his head around the wall, he would see his wife or sister staring from the window of their cell. He keeps himself plastered against the wall, trying to make himself smaller. Trying to go unseen.

Erik is having none of that. He reaches out and lays a heavy hand on Charles’s bad leg. Charles moans before covering his mouth with his hand. He finds himself tense and waiting for all hell to break loose. Erik doesn’t seem keen on rushing things.

Charles finds himself surprised that Erik is bothering with being gentle at all. The other man reaches out and takes his chin. He guides Charles in a deep kiss. If it were anyone else, Charles would say it was a good kiss. He's breathless when the General pulls away. He feels tense and anxious knowing his family is just a few feet away. Charles has never been attracted to other men, but he learned to manipulate the way men and women perceived him even before his powers manifested. He avoided beatings by being too ‘delicate’. He charmed his way out trouble. He talked himself into the beds of women who were much older than him before he enlisted. Moira joked on their wedding night, that she was making an honest man out of the biggest whore in Belgium. He's never told her how right she was.

He tries playing the character Brahms wanted. He pulls away and bites his lip, knowing it’ll make his mouth redder. "Please- just not here." He bats his eyes and pouts. He’s doesn’t have to force tears into eyes, he’s already crying, but he knows what he looks like teary eyed. He used to practice in the mirror.

Lehnsherr takes the hand on his chest and gently kisses Charles’s fingertips. “You think pretending to be a coy, little cockteaser is going to satisfy me?”

Erik shocks Charles out of the act, grabbing a handful of the other man's hair and yanking him closer. Charles tries to keep from crying out. The sharp pain at the nape of neck is only aggravating the tender skin over his ears. He reaches up with both hands, thinking his skull is going to split apart.

Erik shushes him as he whimpers," This is nothing. I promise you, it’s not my intention to hurt you, Charles. I'm going to take very good care of you.   But you have to understand I won't hesitate in giving that baby to Whitehall. The man seems ardent on doing a biopsy on that baby’s brain. Do you want that to happen Charles? Is playing with me really worth it?” He let’s go and gently pats Charles on the shoulder. Like he’s just reassuring an old friend.

Charles almost vomits on the man.

He keeps himself from retching and nods along, “I understand. Honestly, I understand. Just. Please not here. My family is right there. We’re sitting on the dirty ground. Couldn’t you deflower me somewhere else?” He ekes out nervous lopsided smile.

Lehnsherr frowns at Charles’s reasoning. “Meine kleine Maus. Do you think we will enter into a deal without consummation on your part? No, no,” he coos at Charles. “I’m afraid I need to be sure now that you’re worth all the trouble. Otherwise I can just leave you here.” He leans in and whispers while Charles is making up his mind, “Maybe I’ll take your pretty sister with me instead.” He says with a smile that Charles think is full of sharp inhuman teeth.

Charles takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He imagines a future where his wife is dead. Lehnsherr has no other use for her. He sees his son on an operating table with a Y-incision on his tiny chest and his precious tufts of brown hair shaved off. He sees Lehnsherr dragging his sister in metal chains like the kind she was shackled with back at the camp. By the time he exhales and opens his eyes he’s already made up his mind. His body is just a vessel for a mind. There is nothing on the earthly plane that can deter him from protecting his family. Not bullets, not war, and not this.

Lehnsherr smiles like he’s just noticed the difference in Charles. As if he can tell the other man has settled his nerves and will comply without crying and fighting about it. It wasn’t even five minutes ago that a smile like that almost made Charles throw up. Now he just smiles back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, long story short, I went home early from work the other day with a 104° fever. This fic happened- l'm so sorry Charles.


	8. Water Under the Bridge

Cairo Egypt, November 1960

It had been a struggle for the Allied forces to keep Shaw from influencing the Mediterranean. There was a separatist fervor amongst many of the mutants in the east that could easily fall in his favor. The Second World War may have officially ended, but there were still battles being fought on almost every front. Tense and brittle negotiations would often break down and whatever truce the Allied forces made (both with each other and their enemies) would often fall apart.

This is how Charles found himself under orders from his new commanding officer, General Arlington to lead a small group of refuges from Tunisia to a safe place in Cairo. He led a relatively small company of soldiers including his newest ‘student’ Sean. The young man had affectionately started calling him Professor when he learned that Charles had already been in out of college before he was 18, and wanted to pursue teaching after the war. The group rescued from Tunisia includes a young woman called N’Dare. She’s the leader of the civilians and a distant relative of General Arlington.

Charles learns over their daily tea breaks where she indulges him in a chess game and conversation, that she’s a mutant with powers to make flowers grow and turn the land fertile. He marvels at this declares it the first time he’s even seen a mutant powers manifest as ‘magic.’

Charles tried turning the eye of the white-haired goddess, but she broke his heart and told him she already engaged and planning to be married. When they finally reached Cairo, Charles was introduced to the man who would marry N’Dare and even invited to the wedding. He declined, feigning a broken heart and found himself in a bathhouse. Then a tavern. Then an alley. He lost a little time when fell asleep drunk outside a hostel. He had every intention of returning to his company’s camp outside of the city, but got lost. He found himself in a bar getting more drunk and raucously singing Italian with a mixed group of soldiers from several armies.

Two days after his Egyptian bar crawl, he found himself back with his company. He’s sunburnt and everyone has been laughing and talking too loud. There’s a suspicious rash on his groin and he’s not ready to ask Darwin to take a look at it. He may never be, and quietly accepts that he may die with crabs on Nile delta. And then get eaten by crabs. It’s a dreary prospect all round, so Charles walks off, citing his intention to see ruins and take pictures for his sister. He even takes a camera with him. He casts a net with his telepathy to be invisible. He wanders around an old Christian settlement and takes pictures of the Coptic architecture and random Children playing.

It’s getting late when he makes up his mind to return. He feels like he’s being watched. He looks behind himself and feels out with his powers but there’s no one there. Some more children run past him and he ducks into an old sandstone house. Inside, red and blue paint are fading from the walls. He leans up against one of these walls to take measure. He doesn’t know why he feels so uneasy. He attributes it to his hangover and all the teasing he suffered today.

The prickly feeling he has on the back of his neck is still there, when suddenly his camera goes flying out of his hand. It smashes on the floor and Charles turns around quickly. He whips out his gun from his thigh holster. He tries to back out of the doorway but something knocks him on the back of the head. He falls to the floor and tries to scramble back up, but is pushed back down. He realizes now it’s a long sticky appendage that’s swatting him from the ceiling. He looks up and sees a man with greenish skin hanging from the crumbling roof of the house.

He’s wearing a helmet and balances to keep it from falling off while he stares at Charles with his head tilted. He lets go of the rafter and lands in front of Charles. Charles makes for his gun again, but the man leg sweeps him. Charles finds himself lying under the man, smelling his foul breath. The man blinks two sets of eyelids. Under normal circumstances Charles would ask about his mutation. But being in a fight for his life, he settles for reaching out to pull off the helmet, knowing it’s what’s blocking his telepathy. The man doesn’t allow it and cuffs him, and Charles counters with his own punches. They trade fist blows for a time until Charles thinks to kick the man off. He’s legs aren’t strong enough to get the agile man off, though. He has to settle for kicking the man in the knees.

The green mutant shouts in pain and rolls off to clutch at his knees. Charles rushes to get up only to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun. Another mutant wearing the same kind of helmet. Charles raises his hands in surrender while trying to think of a way out.

He backs away from the gun, but the newcomer steps forward with him. “Oi, there friend.” He tries. “There’s no need for that. I’m sure we can all work this out peaceably. Were you at the casino? The bar from yesterday? If I owe you money or something, I’m good for it. Really, really good for it. Let’s go someplace to get this all settled, hm. Just put that gun down.”

The man smiles and Charles is struck for moment with how pretty he is. The man is olive skinned and has long dark flowing to his shoulders from under the helmet. Even with his face obscured, Charles can tell this man could have made a decent living as a film star or model. If only he wasn’t a murderous bastard, he thinks.

The man keeps smiling with his perfectly straight teeth as the frog man collects himself and stand beside him. The man doesn’t speak but indicates with a nod that the frog man should collect the camera and film from where it’s all smashed on the floor.

Charles is trying to make it to the door, hoping he might be seen by someone or has a chance to break away. He’s a bit hasty trying to quietly step back, when he hears the shot ring out.

He’s so surprised at it he looks around, thinking he’s been missed. The frog man grins and the good-looking man silently re-cocks the gun. Charles is breathing heavily when he hears the second shot. This time he looks down to see there’s now two holes in his chest armor. A third shot takes out his right knee. He knows instantly that he may never recover. He closes his eyes, expecting another shot to take him out altogether. He’s only met with quiet. He opens his eyes and finds both of his assailants have disappeared. He lays on the floor of the old house with a shattered knee and damaged armor. He sees where pieces of his camera are broken on tile floor.

He laughs to himself, “The others. They’re going to think someone’s husband did this.”

He passes out and when he comes to in Darwin’s tent a day later, the others confirm his suspicions.

Shaw has sent assassins after Allied officers outside of Europe. Two other Captains and a Major were found dead. He is the only survivor in what appears to be three day killing spree in Cairo. He doesn’t want to think about what that means so he goes back to sleep.


	9. The Call From Old Friends

Bastogne, Belgium May 1962

Living in the same house with Raven was becoming intolerable. Charles was on the phone with their mother assuring her that Raven’s latest arrest wouldn’t make the local papers and certainly nothing that would get back to New York or London. He would bury the story and promised to make sure she stopped acting out.

She was hanging out with a gang of teenagers vocal about the local government’s appeasement toward Shaw’s regime. In the month since Jean-Paul was captured, she’d been arrested three times for demonstrations outside of military and political outposts. This most recent arrest happened after she led a picket line to the British embassy and started throwing rocks and spray painting ‘COWARDS’ on the walls. She and the other youths were detained. The police called and told Charles they had to hold her this time for at least forty-eight hours. He was clambering to find a way to get her out before Moira came home for dinner.

Darwin had done such a good job resetting his knee two years ago, that he rarely ever felt the kind of discomfort most people with his injury would feel. He suspected that a visit from his ‘magical’ priestess had something to do with how well he healed.   From time to time the torn patella would protest and he would have to make use of the cane the army issued him. Today isn’t one of those days, but Charles wasn’t going to risk not using every tool he had. He had his rank and a career of service behind him, but the sight of an injured veteran pleading for the safe return of a love one might do. He carefully dressed in a sharp looking suit and ran out to his car. He stopped and ran back to the house to collect his cane and then walked with a carefully practiced gait back to the car.

By dinner he had acquired a wayward sister, three of his students from university, a random angry orphan, and an older gentleman in a turtle neck. He sent the older gent away but invited the others to come home with him for dinner. Mostly so he could lecture everyone about trespassing on government property.

When Moira arrived, Raven was storming back out (with all the young people in tow) and Charles had to her go. Moira shrugged and came the table to plate herself some food. “I see you’ve had busy day, Professor. Top marks?”

Charles leaned back in his chair and sighed. “F’s. For everyone, including me and parliament and the cabinet of war.”

Moira frowned, “Then why aren’t we helping Raven. I know you don’t agree with how they just let Shaw smuggle people across the border. You and I, we’re in the unique position to actually do something about it. We could save that poor boy.”

Charles sighed again and shook his head. “We already talked about this. I’d be useless going into the Rhineland now with all their soldiers wearing helmets. My leg gives out at odd times. I can’t just lead an unsanctioned operation into enemy territory. You know better than that.”

Moira clenched her jaw, “And you know better, too Charles. They’re going to kill that boy. You saw what the camps over there looked like. I know too. We have to do something about this. I can contact some friends of mine, and you can ask for volunteers or something. Someone out there has to be willing to help us.”

Charles dismisses her plea with a wave of his hand and stands up from the table. He gets up and goes upstairs to get ready for bed. When he comes back down he can hear her thinking very loudly, ‘ _STAY OUT_ ’ and so he doesn’t bother to peek into her mind.

“Moira.” He says coming into the kitchen. She’s just getting off the phone with a tight look upon her face. He asks her about the phone call, “Nothing it’s just some intel from Daniel. I’ll meet up with him tomorrow to go over it.” She smiles at Charles. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t block you out, but I’m just so angry right now, Charles.”

Charles doesn’t question it. He’s used to being told to keep out. Instead he walks over and kisses her. “Let’s go to bed. Let’s have angry sex. We don’t that often enough and my leg needs the workout.”

His wife laughs and kisses him back, “Consider yourself in the doghouse, Professor. There will be no angry sex in this house tonight.”

He tickles her and she slaps his hand away, then chases her upstairs where they make use of the house being empty for once.

In the morning the police call Charles again.

This time they are going to hold Raven for a month.


	10. Consummation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> note the rating change.

Location Unknown, March 1963

Erik doesn’t seem to be any rush to get off the dirty floor. He sits down beside Charles and wraps an arm around the other man. Charles doesn’t resist as his enemy starts unbuttoning the plain shirt he’s wearing. He hadn’t registered just how cold it was down here until his chest is exposed to the air.

Erik tsks and hums, “We’ll have to put some meat on these bones. You’re not looking your best, my dear.”

Charles doesn’t move while Erik’s hand rubs and strokes across his chest. He does flinch when Erik leans in and bites his earlobe. “The hell!” He exclaims before containing himself and willing his body to be still again.

Erik bites again, this time even harder. “I don’t want a cold fish, Charles. Stop holding yourself so still. It takes all the fun out of this.” He bites again and that prompts Charles to try to find something to do with this hands. It doesn’t help that he doesn’t want to touch Erik. He feels awkward and almost embarrassed to be backed into a virginal corner. With all the women he’s slept with, nothing ever prepare him something like this. He’s not even sure about reciprocating kisses. Let alone, how to go about participating while this man fucks him. He feels his face redden with the thought.

Erik bites him again, this time on an exposed shoulder. “Charles,” he moans. “Give me something to work with Charles. I’m losing my patience.”

Charles panics and rushes to his feet. He looks down to where Erik is smirking at him. The other man isn’t the least bit afraid. He knows he’s still in control of the situation. Charles moves away from the doorway and hopesto be well out of sight from the women. He quickly strips off his shirt and then his pants. The must have dressed him in a rush after the surgery with borrowed clothes, because he wasn’t wearing underwear. He breathes through his nose and tries not to cover himself under the heated stare of Erik Lehnsherr.

He’s not sure of what he’s done, but it seems to be enough. Erik gestures for him to come back to the wall. He stands in front the man and Erik gets up to his knees. He kisses Charles thigh, then lower down, until he reaches the scarred skin of his knee. He goes back up and kisses the tip of Charles cock before taking the whole thing in his mouth.

This is certainly a surprise, but Charles is in no position to enjoy it. He remains flaccid and tense as Erik works his mouth over his prisoner. When the General pulls off he seems disappointed. “Didn’t you hear what I said? Is there something wrong with you?”

Charles concedes, “I’m cold. I’m hungry. I’m deeply embarrassed and entirely worried about my _wife’s_ presence not ten feet away from here. I’m sorry, but I can’t exactly get it up right now.”

Erik scoffs, “Fine, come down here.” He pulls Charles down kisses him deeply again. Charles can taste himself but decides that he can ignore that.

Erik gently, but pointedly pushes Charles down onto the dirty covered sheets in this cell. Charles turns his head to the side as Erik sits up to undo his own pants, letting them down enough to free his cock. Charles doesn’t want to see the thing. He closes his eyes and counts backwards from one thousand in his head. He remembers what Erik said about participating. So he tries.

_“…989”_

He tries stroking along Erik’s forearm. They’re still clothed, but he can tell the man has muscular forearms. He lays on his back panting and still counting down in his head. Erik shoves two fingers in his mouth and he eagerly sucks on them.

“ _…964_ ”

Once Erik is satisfied, he takes his fingers out and leans down to kiss Charles again. Now his fingers find their way to Charles hole. Charles is still tense and can’t think of a way to relax enough to allow this to happen too. He keeps counting as he feels one slicked digit slip by the ring of muscle. He’s still clenching down and trying to resist. Erik stops and tells him to open his eyes.

“Stay with me, Charles. I told I you I wasn’t going to hurt you. But I can’t help it at this rate. You’re not doing yourself any favors.”

“I’m trying,” sobs Charles. He didn’t even realize he was about to start crying again. He wonders if he ever stopped crying. It doesn’t matter because Erik seems to have really lost his patience. The man roughly shoves in two fingers and then a third. Charles can’t help but cry out.

“CHARLES!”

He tries to block out Raven’s voice. He wills his body to relax as much as he can. He can’t bear the thought that his family would have to hear this happen to him as well.

“ _…854_ ”

“ _…853_ ”

Erik doesn’t seem satisfy with the preparation but he pulls his fingers up and lines up with his cock. Charles can feel the head, though he still hasn’t looked down to see it. It bumps up against him unable to penetrate at first before Erik grabs the meat of his legs and spread them apart wider. He feels pain shooting to his knee and his eyes finally open.

“Please,” he begs, “My knee. I was shot…” He trails off finally seeing Erik’s cock.

He frowns and shakes his head no, but Erik just spreads his cheeks apart to line up with him again. Erik grins and leans down to kiss him on the nose of all places. “I know. I was the one who ordered it.”

In one rough shove he slots into place.

Charles lets out a scream. He doesn’t recognize his own voice, but tries to tamp it down. He keeps counting. He bites his own fist. He lays there and lets the other man start pounding in and out of him.

“ _…8… 8…”_

He finds he can’t think straight around the pain. The shame of it all is keeping him quiet. He thinks that the only reason Raven and Moira are being quiet is to keep the baby sleeping. He reasons that if he makes too much noise, he’ll wake the baby and then it will cry, and Erik would stop and give the child up to Whitehall right there. So he stays quiet. Or at least he tries to around all the sobbing and whimpering. Erik shushes him, “That’s my good boy. You’re doing fine. Shh, I’ve got you.”

Charles resents the man for trying to _help_ him through the rape and suddenly he finds the thought of the whole thing rather funny. He lets out a small laugh and Erik stops. Buried to the hilt, he stops and looks at Charles carefully. He smooth the sweaty hair from his forehead and kisses him again.

Charles kisses him back. He wraps he legs around the other man’s waist and urges him forward. If this must be done, then he thinks, he rather it be over with. He starts moving his hips as much as his knee will allow in counterpoint to Erik’s thrusts and the other man starts losing his rhythm.

Charles has never been on this side of sex before and he’s wholly unprepared to feel the warmth of cum pulse into his body, then dribble out of the cavity when Erik pulls away.

He lays there still and wishing he could just be anywhere else.

Erik sits and tucks his cock back in his pants. He looks down at Charles like he found buried treasure. Charles wants to punch him in the face.

Erik gets up and pulls Charles to his feet too. “Get dressed. We’re going home now.” He commands and he leaves the cell.

Charles is left shaking and reaching for his cloths. The sight of blood smeared on his thigh doesn’t stop him. He gets dressed and starts to sit down but the hard floor isn’t helping things. He elects to stand up and wait. He realizes he’s free to go to the other cell, but he doesn’t want his girls to see him like this.

When Erik returns he has Azazel in tow. “See to it that this place is hosed down when you get back. It stinks in here.” Azazel nods before taking Erik and Charles by the hand. In a flash of smoke they reappear in what seems to be a library. Erik goes to his desk and motions for Charles to sit down.

“I have some letters for you to sign. I will send them to your embassy tomorrow. They say you and your family have defected here. You no longer wish to serve the Allied Forces, ecetera, ecetera. Sign it before I send Azazel to collect your family.”

Charles squirms in his seat and leans over. He signs his life away. He doesn’t even bother to look it over. He’s sure Erik’s had enough time to make this look legitimate. There will be no rescue for him and his family from across the border.

Erik snaps his fingers like a magician, and Azazel disappears. Erik gets up and motions for Charles to follow him out into the hall, they pass by three doors. He opens one.

Inside there’s a full-sized bed and small desk. “My guest room. We can send for things to fix it up if you like.” He continues the tour and leads Charles to a large open living room with a modern kitchen. All the furniture is metal, and the there’s a large TV against one wall and a bay window at another. The window is barred but with a wave of his hand, Erik opens it. He leads Charles to the windows and makes sure he looks down.

“We are twenty nine stories up.” He says like the number is significant. Charles doesn’t care. He looks down and sees the world moving around down below.

“Where are we?”

“Berlin. This is my home. Now you and your little family can stay until I say otherwise. Disobey me-“

Charles doesn’t know if he’s risking something, but he reaches out and Erik looks panicked, “Don’t do that!”

“I see. I understand. I’ll behave myself, Erik. There’s nowhere to go but down is there? Now please, can I see my family?”

Erik kisses him again, “Go shower first. Then I will tell Azazel to bring them up. Go on. This is your home now. I’ll find something for you to wear.” He watches as Charles goes back to the hall. He turns his back and for moment Charles considers running up and pushing the man out the open window.

It’s a thought that keeps him moving until his family arrives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Evil Erik Logic, they're totally married now. He wants to go pick out curtains and everything.


	11. House Warming

Berlin, Germany March 1963

 

The first thing Charles does is lock the door.

Charles manages to move around the bathroom like an automaton. He mechanically washes in the roomy shower. Ignoring all the new aches and pain he feels is a trail, but he does so. He ignores the way his hand can’t seem to stop shaking. He decides not to try shaving. His face is already smooth. Whoever handled him while he was on Daniel’s operating table shaved him. It seems he’s only lost a little weight since his capture.

When he gets out of the shower he examines his face and head in the mirror. The reflection isn’t a pretty sight. There are dark rings under his sunken, lifeless eyes. It might be his imagination, but his recent trauma and unhappiness is clearly written across his face. How could a man like Lehnsherr want this? Charles sees the ghosts of men and women who’ve died by Lehnsherr’s hands. Hollowed out and pale, Charles concludes that Erik must be delusional to find him attractive. The madman might even think this is what people should look like. He probably thinks he’s doing the poor souls in the camps a favor. He imagines an advertisement reading ‘ _come diet and avoid sunlight at Camp 9, or try our muddy spa treatments in an underground prison_.’

To think anyone would get off while fucking a bag bones, Charles slams his hand against the sink. He has to remember why he’s doing this before he goes out the door and tries to strangle the man. He knows he wouldn’t make it. After he died, Moira would be killed and Raven would take his place.

He feels sick when he realizes the only thing keeping his sister from being assaulted again is the attention he gets from the crazed General.

On top of the sink is a box of new toiletries. He opens a new toothbrush and looks in the mirror. It’s the first time he’s seen what’s left of his floppy hair. It’s not so bad. At worst, he would be confused with a bowl-cut wearing beatnik. Whatever vanity he had about his hair is momentarily set aside. He brushes his teeth and washes his face.

Charles convinces himself that this is all temporary. He will escape. He will rescue his family.

He will kill Erik Lehnsherr.

It may take some time and a few more traumatic encounters, but he promises himself, he will get the hell of Berlin and send Lehnsherr’s soul to hell on the way.

Exiting in only a towel makes him anxious. Opening the door, he fully expects to see Lehnsherr standing just outside it, waiting to pounce.

Whatever relief he finds in the empty room is dampened by the knowledge that he doesn’t know the whereabouts of his family. He quickly dresses in the clothes left for him on the bed. A simple pair of striped pajamas. They’re new and still have a brand name tag dangling from one sleeve. He gets dressed and braves leaving the room to find Erik.

Erik is in the kitchen hovering over pots and pans that move on their own. He smiles when he sees Charles. “There you are. I was starting to worry you may have drowned in there.”

Charles doesn’t respond so Erik continues, “If you had died, I wouldn’t have called Azazel back. Now that you’re dressed though, I’m sure you want to see the others. Hm?” He looks away from Charles already knowing the answer. On the table amongst various vegetables and seasoning bottles is a strange metal box with single red button on top. Erik presses it and a voice rings out in the room.

“You buzzed, sir?”

Charles looks around the room, looking for the speakers or audio system of the intercom. Erik addresses his call, “Tell Azazel he can bring them in now. I trust everyone is clean and fed.”

Charles holds his breath as the voice answers, “Yes of course, sir. They are all being polished and ready for inspection.”

Erik huffs a laugh, “Thank you Janos. That will be all.”

Erik leans against the counter. “I assure you they’ve eaten something simple for their stomachs. It’s difficult to recover from near starvation. Believe me, I know. They’ll be checked out by my doctor in the morning. I’m keeping my word you see.”

“I do see,” admits Charles. “Can I see them? Please.” He looks down and tries to avoid making eye contact but Erik comes in close and forces him to look up with a glare.

“They’ll be home in a moment. You can kiss everyone goodnight and put them to bed.” He brushes a long wet lock of fringe out of Charles’s face. Erik tilts his head runs his index finger along the thin red line of stitches above his ear. The gesture hurts and Charles has to turn away.

Erik continues, “Then you and I are going to have dinner. Then I’m showing you to our room.”

Charles grinds his teeth, just thinking about have to share a space with the monster. “I understand. What do you… what do you want me to do?” He stammers.

Erik smiles and hands the man bowl of beans, “Snap these and put them in the water.”

Charles frowns. He can’t believe this act from Magneto. The man had raped him not even a whole hour ago. Now, Erik ties on an apron and sips soup out the ladle. Charles shakes his head no when Erik reaches out with the spoon. “I’m not hungry.”

Erik drops the spoon and hot soup splashes all over the stove. “We’re not doing this. I already told you the terms, didn’t I, Charles? You already said you were hungry. I’ve gone to all this trouble to make something to help you recover. Whitehall had you on a feeding tube, and you need to gain some weight. Don’t you think you will be better if you’re healthy again Charles? You’ll look better, too.” He bites of the last comment turns back to his pans and soup.

Charles almost lets out a laugh. So the madman does care what he looks like.

Charles sighs and goes to the pot. He takes a sip of the soup. It’s mild chicken broth with a few chucks of chicken meat and vegetables. He puts the spoon back down and looks at Erik. “Do you have any pepper?”

Erik fights to contain a smile, and smugly hands Charles a shaker. “Don’t overdo it,” he warns.

Before Charles can add any to the soup, there’s the snap, swoosh, and flash from the teleporter appearing in the living room. In one hand he grips Moira’s elbow as she holds the baby. In the other he holds Raven by the hair. Charles doesn’t think and in the next instant he grabs a knife. Erik disarms him before he can get to the other room. Charles almost grabs for the knife again but Erik stills him with a hand on his chest. He goes to Azazel first.

“Didn’t I leave you with orders not to harm a hair on their heads?”

The red demon looks nervous. He releases Raven and Moira steps back, “My sincerest apologies. She was being unruly and I had to subdue her.”

Erik nods, “I get that. These Xaviers are a spirited pair aren’t’ they,” he smirks.

He looks at Charles and then back to Azazel, “Still I gave the man my word. Not a hair on their heads is what I told you. And you deliberately starting pulling the girl’s hair. That’s disrespectful, my friend.”

Azazel bows, keeping his eyes up and on Erik. “I’ll make it up to you. I have to return to Shaw now, orders. Otherwise I would to stay for dinner.” He vanishes before Erik can say anything else. Charles rushes past Erik.

Finally he has his family, safe and in his arms. As promised they’ve all bathed and changed clothes. Like him the women are in sleepwear, wearing long cotton night gowns and thin slippers. Charles realizes this is the first time he’s seen the baby in proper fitting clothes and not swaddled in rags.

Moira hands Lucas to him as Raven keeps an eye on Erik. Charles wishes he could reassure her, but he can’t. He can only do as he was told before they arrived. He leads them to the guest bedroom. Erik doesn’t make a move to follow. Instead the man slinks off to the kitchen.

In the room, Charles and women cling to each other crying and rocking for comfort. He kisses them both, “I thought I lost of all you again. I’m so sorry this is happening.”

Raven cries, “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t followed that stupid cop to the border…” Moira hushes her and whispers to the girl, “It’s not anyone’s fault. We did what we thought we had to do. Didn’t we, Charles?” He can tell she’s not asking a question. She looks over Raven’s head and shares a look with Charles. He couldn’t put to words how its makes him feel stronger. He knows this woman has suffered horrible things. He knows he will too, but in this moment they share solidarity.

He goes to her and kisses her on the lips. “Stay in here. Keep quiet and don’t draw any attention to yourselves. I think I can come back for you in the morning.”

Raven gasps, “You can’t. Charles you can’t’ go back to that monster. Please, I’ll do it. Just don’t, you don’t have to do this for us.”

He kisses his sister on the head, “It’s going to be fine. Tell me what happened when I left. Did anyone hurt you?” She shakes her head no, “Azazel took us somewhere else. Nurses made us all take a shower and gave us some soup and water. I was fighting with the nurses. They were going to give me stitches or something, I just couldn’t let them do it. I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing,” he says as all they sit together on the bed. Moira leans on his shoulder and Raven lays down with her head in his lap. “How long has it been since we were taken? I don’t even know what day it is.” He opts for being quiet and taking comfort from just having the women he cares about near. The baby gurgles and sneezes in Moira’s arm. Charles is almost afraid to hold him for too long.

“Is the baby very sick? Did the nurses check him?”

Moira sits up and tries to hand Lucas over, as if she knows what is Charles is thinking.

Charles takes the baby and looks and smiles at his little face. “How old is he?”

Moira answers while pulling Raven into the bed to get under covers. “He’s about three month old. I had him the day after New Year. Charles,” she frowns, “Daniel delivered him. He was my contact to get over the border when I went after Raven. He set us all up from the start. He had Jean-Paul taken as bait. I never realized why Lehnsherr was going to all this trouble. Did you meet him before or something?”

Charles can’t think of a single instance where he would have met the man, “No. I’ve never been in direct combat with him. I don’t know why he’s harboring this obsession with me. Maybe he’s just an opportunist. If Daniel was already experimenting on telepaths and psychics, then he made me a mark years ago. The traitorous bastard.”

Before they discuss it any further, there’s a knock on the door. They all flinch collectively and sit up as Erik opens the door. The man doesn’t seem bothered that he scared everyone. He politely sticks his head inside, “Dinner’s ready. Come on and sit at the table. I’m sure they need to rest.”

He backs out and leaves them alone. Charles takes this moment to kiss his family goodbye and gets a reassuring hug from Moira. She whispers in his ear, “We’ll think of something, Charles. We’ll all get to go home and this will just be memory. Be careful.”

He nods and forces himself to stand up and leave. Raven turns away doesn’t say anything.

When Charles walks into the kitchen he is surprised to see Erik already sitting at the table. The other man hasn’t started to eat anything, he patiently waits with his hands folded in his lap.

“Do sit down, Charles. I’m not going to bite.”

Charles scoffs at that. “You already did, remember.”

Erik smiles, “Yes. Would you care for a repeat or would like to try some of this delicious soup?”

Charles sits and snaps out the napkin laid out the table. He primly lays in his lap and sits upright. Just like his mother taught him. If the other man wants to play at being civilized, Charles can out class him in his sleep. He politely awaits for confirmation from his host. Erik nods so Charles takes up a spoon to sample the broth. It’s still mild, but it’s not bad. He sips quietly from his spoon.

Erik stares for a rude amount time. Charles can hear his mother in his head, “ _Don’t stare, Charles, a gentlemen keeps his eyes to himself.”_

Charles finishes his bowl with a pace that would make his mother proud. He didn’t slurp. No elbows on the table. He sat erect the whole time. He daintily dabs at this lips when his finished. “May I be excused?”

Erik stares on, having barely touched his own bowl. “No you may not. We have some things to discuss. The rules for this household are simple and it is my hope that you will follow them all to the letter.”

Charles allows himself to slouch deliberately, “Why are we doing this? What else could you possibly gain in making me play along with this farce? You can’t pretend to be better or superior, sitting there like we’re having a civilized discussion. You are a monster. You are holding my family captive-“

Erik cuts him off with a raised hand. Charles bites his own lip and quiets down. Erik smirks at him, “See that. That’s all I want. Obedience. Civility, yes. We aren’t just mutants, Charles. We are superior. I am not some caveman, knocking you over the head and dragging you back to my den. I am General and warden for a world power. We will treat each other in this relationship like any modern couple does, and afford each other some thought and consideration.”

Charles doesn’t realized his laughed in the face of his tormentor until it too late.

Erik slams his hand on the table. “Or. Else.”

Charles swallows his pride and doesn’t say anything about Erik’s outburst. Instead he takes a civilized sip of his water and calmly puts his glass down. “May I be excused?”

Erik frowns, “No. We’re going to the library first. I want to read to you.”

“I’m too old for bedtime stories.”

“Then we can skip that and go straight to bed. Together.” He stands up and pulls Charles up by the arm. He starts marching down the hall. The last room must be Erik’s room. He stops in front of the door. “Which do you honestly prefer? I told you in this relationship—“

“Stop calling it that.” Charles yanks his arm free, “I’m married. I have a wife. She’s down the hall if you can recall.”

“You can have a widow!” Snaps Erik. “You are testing me, Charles. I told you already I won’t stand for that. I’d just as soon kill all of you-“

Charles pushes Erik back and gets in his face. He examines the other man and notes that the metal bender has an erection tenting his slacks. Charles wants to laugh at this too, that an argument is enough to make the man want him, “Wonder of wonders. This I believe is the real you. Not that domesticated act. This is what you are. A man that threatens women and babies. A man who rapes and steals, and abuses people.”

“And here you are still looking me in the eye.” Erik closes the gap between them and pulls Charles into his arms. He opens the door to the bedroom and leads them inside. Charles has a second to note that this room is three times bigger than the guest bedroom and the bed is as large as it is intimidating.

Still he turns to Erik and says, “You don’t scare me.”

Erik merely smirks and pushes Charles in the direction of the bed, “Take off your clothes.”

 


	12. Deliveries and Reconstruction

Berlin, Germany March 1963

 

The bed is dressed in red and black sheets. Charles is laid out on the dark red comforter staring up at his tormentor. “Wait.” He presses, “Just wait. I think… I think I’m torn up from before, I can’t do that again. Not without screaming at least.” Erik looms over him but doesn’t move to force Charles to do anything.

Charles thinks it was a mistake to mention screaming. If anyone were to like a bloody, screaming sobbing, mess, it’d be the man before him.

Erik leans away from the bed. He stretches out a hand to catch the right leg of Charles pajamas and idles, standing there where Charles is spread out before him. He sighs and moves his hand under the hem of the pant leg and strokes Charles’s calf. Charles tries not pull his leg free. Especially as the random touches start to tickle.

Letting Erik do as he please keeps them in limbo for several minutes. The larger man doesn’t attack. He just stands there, exploring, now the heel and sole of Charles’s foot. He deliberately runs a finger up the middle of Charles’s sole and the younger man can’t help but laugh out loud.

Erik smiles at the sound. “Never mind about you clothes.” He pulls at Charles’s big toe, “Get up in the bed and get comfortable. I’ll be right back.”

Charles is left staring with wide-eyes as the man leaves him be. He sighs in relief and pulls himself up in the bed, doing as he was told. He wonders, could the psychopath really want to share domesticity with someone? Charles runs his hands through his hair and massages the shaved skin over his temples.

“If only I had my powers”, he says aloud. “I could dive into that pool of discord and find out just what is going on in that big melon of his.”

Charles sits and waits taking in more of the room. There’s nothing personal out in the open. Everything is probably put away in the dark wood dressers or behind the metal doors of the closet. The two night stands are bare except for one faced down picture frame. Charles reaches over and takes a look. It’s a photograph of a small woman dressed in grey, standing before a cannon. The woman is smiling and waving in the picture. The name of the cannon is ‘IH009’. Charles knows this must be from almost twenty years ago. Then, the IH series destroyers were targeted by Allied forces. None of them stand today, not even in Germany. At least he prays that’s the case.

Charles put the frame back as he found it and stretches out in the admittedly comfortable bed. His eyes feel heavy despite knowing he could never just sleep in the same room with the man. He feels anxious from anticipation, but his body is slowing down and shutting down for the night. Charles suspects he’s been drugged. Probably in the damn soup.

When Erik comes back, he carrying a folder. He sits down close to Charles and throws an arm around his captive. Charles balks at the hand patting on his shoulder but doesn’t move away.

Erik smiles down at him and Charles sleepily blinks before snapping, “You great fucking tit!”

Erik laughs, “You do have filthiest mouth. Were you a sailor?”

Charles pulls away from him then. He slurs, “I am. I am Captain of… I am a Captain of the free.”

Erik laughs again, “I take it the sedatives are working. Come here. I want to show you something. Look.”

He opens the folder. Charles is starting to lose the fight with his eyelids. He blinks and blinks and yawns. He looks down at the first page to see a picture of some nest-like wires. “Wassat?” He asks.

Erik pulls him back, “That’s one of your inhibitors. You have one on each side of your head. They make a signal that blocks your brain’s ability to reach out with your powers.”

Charles drops his head on the monster’s shoulder, “You made me human?”

Erik starts to run his hand through Charles’s hair. “You could never be human, Charles. You’re better than that. I know it will take time, but I hope we can remove the inhibitors one day. Then you can use you gift at your full potential.”

Charles thinks the hand in his hair is strong and feels good massaging all the aching places on his scalp. He has just started to dose off when he whispers, “I’m going turn your brain into soup.”

Erik huffs and lays him down flat, tucking the comforter up to his shoulders. “I’m counting on that, Charles.”

The last thing Charles sees before he goes to sleep is Erik’s gazing down at him.

When he wakes up the next morning he’s shocked to find himself alone in a strange bed. He still feels slow, but he quickly reassesses his situation. He is locked in the home of a mad war criminal. And he’s still wearing night clothes. He was definitely drugged, and he knows his family is in a small room down the hall. He counts this all as positive signs that things could gone worst. Getting up from the bed, he heads for the guestroom.

Finding no one in there, he goes to the living room with his heart in his throat. There Lucas is swaddled in blankets on the floor. The baby is giggling at a mobile of slowly rotating spoons and couple of salt shakers. Raven sits on the floor with her hands raised as if she’s about reach out to catch anything that might fall. In the kitchen, Erik is cooking again while Moira sits at the kitchen table mixing powdered milk. The women are still in their night gowns, but Erik is dressed in a grey suit.

Charles goes first to his son and sister. Kneeling on the floor he asks, “Are you alright?”

Raven nods, “He said he’s cooking us breakfast before he leaves. His doctor is coming around later and so is one of assistants.”

Charles feels a little sick watching his son kick his feet and smile with all gums at the madman’s display of power. He lifts Lucas to his shoulder and takes Raven’s hand. He doesn’t want to take his eyes off them as he goes to the kitchen.

Erik looks up beckons him over. With Moira and Raven still present, he kisses Charles on the cheek. “Guten morgen, sleepy head. You look much better already. Here, have some toast and apple juice. The ladies already had their supplements, and that baby is ready for another bottle.” He kisses Charles again and exits the kitchen.

Charles looks between Raven and Moira with confusion written on his face, “What the hell was that?”

Raven shrugs and sits down by Moira. “He came in the bedroom hours ago when Lucas woke up crying. Moira told him, the baby needed milk and he just left and came back with all this powdered stuff. We’ve been up ever since.”

Moira takes the baby from Charles to feed Lucas the new bottle, “He said he forgot babies needed so many things when they didn’t have a mother who could adequately care for them.” She rolls her eyes, “As if it’s my fault he had me near starving in a damn camp for the last year.”

Charles strokes his son on the head as he feeds from the glass bottle. “He probably thinks this proves his point about human inferiority. And here we have our own mutant savior providing for our son. I don’t know what he thinks he’ll gain from this.”

“You do,” says Raven. “You’re the only one he wants. We’re just here so he can control you. He’s not just being nice or friendly. He’s a manipulative bastard-“

“Ouch,” says Erik.

They all look to where the tall man is re-entering the kitchen. He stands behind Charles, “You all have a lot to say when I leave the room. Strange, given you were so silent all morning.” He smiles at her and the girl wilts under his stare, averting her eyes to look at the table. Moira keeps her eyes up as he puts his hands on Charles’s shoulders. He kneads them casually and gently wraps the fingers of one hand around Charles throat. Moira keeps feeding her child and Charles silently thanks god or whatever deity is nearby that his wife is so strong.

Charles looks up to where the other man looms over him, “You said you called a doctor. Raven has an aversion to needles. She heals quickly on her own.” He tries not to jump away as Erik leans down to kiss him deeply, while his wife and sister look on. When Erik backs away self-satisfied, Charles can feel his stomach turning. He plows on, “Moira and Lucas are very ill. When is your doctor coming?”

Erik makes a show of standing away to look at his wristwatch. “Ah! It’s almost time now. Come into the living room everyone. Angel will be up soon with your things.”

He leaves the kitchen again and Charles and his family numbly follows him out.

 

Its three hours later and nearing lunchtime when Erik clears out the apartment. They’ve seen doctors, tailors, and movers all morning. The doctor looked the women over and told them Moira was at risk for refeeding syndrome, to address her diet carefully. Raven is recovering physically on her own. The doctor removed the stitches from Charles’s head and crowed over how well he’s mending. Apparently he assisted Whitehall when the traitor went cutting into the telepath’s skull. The doctor was very impressed with himself. A second doctor examined them each in private. When it was Charles’s turn, the doctor asked if he felt any pain or discomfort before examining his anus. He prescribed him a salve and some pain killers. Charles asked after the women and the doctor replied, “That’s between me and patients. You may ask them yourself for the details.”

After the doctors left, Erik’s assistant, a girl with wings called Angel, came in with two racks of clothes. And a small army of tailors. They were measuring and dressing the poor captives for most of the morning. Erik either sat to the side and watched with an amused expression or made comments about particular things. Apparently he liked the sight of Raven in yellow and gold. He thought he was being very generous to woman with Moira’s shortcomings. He prefers if Charles keeps with the times and wears the light suits his favorite bands are wearing. When Charles heard that the man is fan of the Beatles, he worried there’s a chance that the madman might try to kidnap the boys. Only then, he thought, would parliament really put their foot down about the disappearances at the border. Erik has no opinion about the baby being dressed in various little blue and green outfits.

He asked perceptively, “Why does it need shoes?” He tossed a box of tiny of belled dress shoes, “It can’t walk,” he says intelligently.

By the time they are all dressed in what Charles would describe as ‘yachting chic’ does a small team of heavily muscled men arrive. They bring in several boxes of metal and cloth cushions. The little family watches on as Erik assembles a crib, a high chair and a playpen. Charles feels nauseous just thinking about his child being trapped in a cradle of metal where the man could easily kill the infant.

After Erik rushes everyone out, he looks at his watch again and sighs. “Come here, Charles,” he beckons with open arms. Charles goes with limp pace and allows the other man to pull him into an embrace. He rolls his eyes as Erik pets him. “I’m going work now, Charles. If you need anything, buzz for Angel or Janos and they will see to it. I’ll be back when I’m finished,” he adds vaguely before kissing Charles again. He slides his hands down to the smaller man’s lower back pulls him closer.

Charles whimpers and pulls away, “Alright, dear,” he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, “I think you’re going to be late. Off you go.”

Erik laughs pinches the younger man on the cheek, “My little squirrel.” He kisses Charles again, a quick peck on nose before he leaves.

Charles stares on at the closed door amazed he’s survived the last 48 hours.


	13. Another Brick in the Wall

Bastogne, Belgium June 1961

Charles imagines that most people would have a hard time enduring eight months of physical therapy. He however, managed to enjoy himself. He had time to read and write articles for the field of study he had long since abandoned to join The Fight. He marveled over the leaps that had been made in genetics and biology. And while his intellectual pursuits softened the blow to his knee mentally, an angel with white hair healed him physically. He was visited by N’Dare twice in the hospital after Darwin saw to his injury. Both times she claimed to give him blessings for a life free of pain and restrictions. So while his superiors tutted over the mingled sight of his initial x-rays, he went for a jog.

Charles didn’t want to use the wound as an excuse to abandon his post, but he was tired of the long, dreary conflict. He never intended to commit to a lifetime of service, but eight years had come and gone. He was twenty five years old and ready to settle down somewhere. He thought about returning to London, but knew intuitively that he would be swept up in high society. His mother would make sure he met his public obligations to the company. The same would happen if he returned to New York where he was born. He opted instead to remain in Belgium. Some of his old command had settled there. He took up a teaching position at a local high school.

One hot summer day, a group of veterans walked into his favorite bakery. He was sitting in a corner having tea and reading when they came inside and started talking loud. They were a mixed group of rowdy marines. Charles carefully probed each of them for their intent.

_The large gray-haired Frenchman is called Duck and he’s desperate to get out of there to take pictures of the old city for his wife. The young Asian-American girl is called Axe, she thinks the waitress is very cute but is afraid to show interest with her godfather present. Axe’s godfather, a small African-American man thinks the waitress is very cute and would like to introduce the girl to his goddaughter. The last man or woman is a brick wall._

Charles hazards a discreet look. He can’t fathom how the being got through the door and wishes he had paid attention. The brick wall is hard to read, but it politely asks for a drink, “Pardon me, Miss. May I have a drink of water?”

The girl and her godfather seem upset by this, “That’s not going to work. If you can’t control yourself and change back, you can’t get anything in your stomach. You’ll be spewing all over us again.”

Charles sits his book down and approaches them. “Pardon. I couldn’t help but overhear.” He address what he assumes to be wall’s face. “Are you having trouble with your mutation? I might be able to help with that.” He smiles his most disarming smile. The little group still eyes him with suspicion.

The wall turns to him. Charles wishes he were better at reading body language. He puts his fingers to his temple and concentrates. The wall seems to reach out and he finally connects with the mind of a young woman. He helps her to visualize her humanoid form. Together they hold on to the thought until she changes back.

The woman looks down at herself and inspects her uniform and hair. She spins around and looks at her comrades for approval. They all nod, and when she turns back to Charles, he doesn’t think twice before buying her cup of coffee and telling her what a groovy mutation she has.

Hours later Charles has to soak in a tub. He admits to himself that he may have overdid it. The woman was taller, older and heavier. Especially after she climaxed and turned back into a wall. Charles sits in the tub rubbing at his leg and wondering why he always chooses the most dangerous person in the room to take home and shag. He’ll have to pay for a new bed. He’ll have to explain the broken one to his landlady. She already thinks he’s whore.

Charles gives himself the next day off and plans to keep to himself. But the world couldn’t stand for that.

A knock at the door has Charles limping to it with his rarely used cane. He opens it, looks at his guest, and shuts the door again.

The door bursts open and in walks Daniel Whitehall with a suitcase full of gadgets. “Charles, old friend.” He looks at the busted bed, “What the hell have you been up to?”

Charles waves his hand, disinterested, “Same old, same old. Maybe a bit too much for me in my old age.”

Daniel smiles, “I suspect it is part of your mutation, you know. Many of the psionic powered soldiers I’ve met have a physical mutation as well. Yours may well be eternal youth. You don’t even look old enough to drive yet. I can honestly say, your face hasn’t changed much since I first saw you.”

Charles clears a space in the small room’s only chair. “Thank you, for your observations, Mr. Whitehall.” He’s known Whitehall for years. The man is a capable soldier but also inclined to shadowy pursuits. He’s been trying to poach Charles for the intelligence agency he works for. He’s here to try again.

“I know what you think of using your power to manipulate people, but think of the greater good Charles.” Daniel sets up a projector from his collection, “This is film of a camp of human prisoners—“

Charles cuts him off, “Don’t. I know. I’ve seen it in person. My answer is still no. Please take your things and leave, Daniel. I’m not up to company today. I had a rather hectic night.”

Daniel laughs and packs up the projector, but leaves the equipment and film by the door. “Just in case that giant bleeding heart of yours feels interested. You know where to call me when you come back to work. I know you Charles, you’re not ready to give up on saving people yet.”

Charles turns his back on Daniel and feigns making a cup of tea, “I’ll take it under consideration. Goodbye, Daniel.”

He knows it’s a rude farewell, but he can’t stand feeling judged for not using his powers. He waits for Daniel to finish moving around. After he hears the other man leave, he goes to lock the door. He looks down at the equipment on the floor and wonders just long it’ll be before he hooks it up.


	14. Recovery

Berlin, Germany April 1963

 

The captives in a metal tower spent the whole day on edge. They walked on tiptoes through the apartment examining every corner. Charles found wires that may lead to the auditory system but he couldn’t confirm anything. The windows were all weld shut, and there was still a twenty-nine story drop to consider. Since they were teleported to their new prison, they knew nothing of what was beyond the front door. Charles tried the doorknob when he felt sure Erik had left. The door was locked. There was no clear mechanism to open it from the inside. Around dinner time, Angel and entourage of large men came back.

The small fairy-like woman smiled freely at the family. “I know this is not the best of circumstances for you all. I have very strict orders to follow from Erik, but feel free to ask me for anything. Especially for the baby.” She leaves them with grocery bags.

After exploring most of the new space, Charles tells his family to sit in the living room. He turns on the TV and the first thing they see is Dick Van Dyke tripping over an ottoman. Raven lets out a watery laugh and she sits on the floor next to the TV. Charles sits on the couch with Moira and Lucas. “Change the channel, Raven. Try to find some news. We have to know what’s going on.”

His sister seems reluctant to leave Rob Petrie, but she turns the dial. The local news is on. It’s thankfully aired in English since most of the citizens living under Shaw’s regime are immigrant mutants from other parts of the world.

A mutant with large grey horns anchors the news desk, _“Greetings fellow Brothers and Sisters. Welcome to the Evening Report. I’m Rust Baldy, Newt Marcus has the day off.”_

Charles isn’t quite prepared for the immediate onslaught of propaganda.

_“Today, our venerable leader Shaw announced his plans to topple the enemy abroad that threatens the well being of our peaceful States.”_

“Boo,” shouts Raven. She turns back to Charles, “Do we have to watch this?”

Charles hushes her and she rolls her eyes.

 _“The Great General Magneto, Master of Magnetism and the Savoir of Poland is expected to lead an offensive in the coming months. Soon we will have nothing to fear from the small-minded bigotry that allows dangerous inferior beings to subdue our foreign brethren_.”

Charles recalls that after the second war, it was reported that a child tore down the gates of Auschwitz and several other concentration camps. Knowing that was Erik doesn’t change the fact that the man is now committing the same evil crimes. Charles grinds his teeth and holds his family closer.

_“We will report here every evening with news of our victorious march against the human scourge. Now for the weather. Tom, is it ever going to warm up outside or what?”_

Raven turns the dial back one. She smiles at the screen as Laura sobs, “ _Oh Rob.”_

Moira keeps squeezing Charles’s hand. “I’m glad we’re together. Whatever happens, we have to stay together.” She holds him tighter and he kisses her on the head. Lucas seems unhappy with their configuration. The baby lets out a piercing wail and Moira sits up. “I’ll get him more milk. Raven and I should probably take some more of that nasty supplement. Are you hungry Charles?”

He shakes his head, “I’ll eat later. Let’s just get ready for bed. We should stay together at night. I don’t want either of you out of my sight.”

Raven sobs from the floor, “It doesn’t matter if we stay together. They come for us anyway. They did it back at the camp. They’ll do it here.” She bursts into tears and Charles has to kneel down to hold her.

“No one is ever going to hurt either of you again. I promise. The bastards will have to kill me first.”

They stay on the floor a long while. Moira moves around the kitchen feeding Lucas and making the soupy supplement broth for herself and Raven. She brings a bowl to Raven and girl drinks the entire thing down in few gulps. She looks tired afterward. Charles helps her up from the floor.

“I think there’s sedatives in all our food. He wants to keep us quiet up here.” He helps his sister into the guestroom. Moira comes in behind them. They all decide to ignore the heap of metal meant for the baby. Instead, Moira puts Raven and baby in the middle of the bed.

They all take turns showering quickly and changing into night clothes.

Charles lays on the edge of the bed for hours just listening to sounds of his family breathing.

He wakes just before dawn and looks at the doorway. He half-expects Erik to be there watching. Its little comfort to know the man has left them alone all day. How long could that possibly last he thinks, before he lets himself drift off to sleep.

It turns out to be quite a while.

The next day, they have breakfast. Search the house again. Charles finds that Erik’s bedroom is locked. He’d rather not go back in there anyway. They test the buzzer and a man’s voice answers. Moira requests a few more bottles for the baby. Half an hour later, Angel arrives and quickly delivers the goods. She asks after their health and tells them a doctor is scheduled to check on them at the end of the week.

They go to bed after watching the news and again huddle in the guest bedroom.

Four more days of this and Charles starts going stir crazy.

Raven is more withdrawn, either staying in the guestroom all day or silently watching television. Moira is giving all her attention to Lucas. Charles realizes that he hasn’t done more than chastely kiss his wife in the week they been reunited. He thinks it’ll be a while before either of them are ready for sex again. He curses Erik’s name in the shower. He curses Erik’s name when he sees himself in the mirror.

Weeks pasts by and the family enters into a routine similar to the one they had at home. The doctors clear them all for solid food. Moira starts making bigger meals for them to share. They don’t eat in the kitchen, instead camping out in the living room. Charles cleans up behind everyone, mindful of Erik’s warnings. He’d hate for the man to walk in and find the place trashed. He thinks the madman would probably hand his child over for experimentation if there was dirty dish in the sink.

So Charles busies himself with cleaning.

Raven sinks further into depression. Charles and Moira can see that she’s not coping well, so they talk while she’s asleep in the guestroom.

“We have to help her find a purpose,” says Charles while he carefully diapers Lucas on the couch. “You and I have diversions from this horror show. We have military training and years of combat experience. She’s just child,” he chokes. “I should never have sent for her in the first place.”

Moira helps him redress Lucas, “When we first met you told me you wouldn’t wish your mother on anyone. Remember? Bringing Raven to live with us was a good thing. If it weren’t for Daniel and Lehnsherr, we’d be planning her wedding right now.”

Charles doesn’t argue. Instead he looks down at his son. He marvels at the tiny creature, “He has your eyes, I think.”

Moira sighs, “He has _blue_ eyes like his _father_ , you idiot.” She pulls them out of their quiet moment. “Basic training. I kept training whenever I could. Whatever I could do to stay fit. Maybe we should get her to try it?”

Charles agrees, “We all should. We have to be strong. We’ll never know when an opportunity might present itself.” They go to bed that night agreed that the next morning, they would start working out, if gently at first.

It’s a shock when Angel arrives unannounced with more gifts. This time it’s a set of weights and a stationary bicycle. Angel leaves like a fairy godmother.

Charles throws a 20lb weight across the room. “They’re listening! Every word we say! They’re fucking listening!”

Moira tries to calm him down but he escapes her grasp and starts searching the house again for radio equipment. He rips the doors off the cabinets and starts to bash a hole in the wall where they see cords. He tears through most of the apartment. When he’s done, he slides down to floor. He pulls his knees up and sobs into his hands. Moira buzzes Angel.

“We going to need some repairs in the morning. We’ve had a bit an accident.” She’s very calm and suddenly Charles feels ashamed.

“I’m sorry.” He says getting up to his feet, “That was reckless. That monster could come back any minute and find this place trashed. He’d punish you and Raven, and it’d be all my fault.” He cries into her shoulder, “I’m sorry.”

They don’t notice where Raven is stretching out under the weight set lifting 150lbs easily.


	15. Abort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Just to be clear the slutty!Charles tag isn’t for what he does while he’s captive, it’s for all the wall-banging he got up when he was a single soldier shagging his way across the planet. N’Dare probably charmed his nether regions too to make them VD resistant given his ability to find any woman of sound mind doable- eh viable company.

Berlin, Germany June 1963

 

Lucas decides to rollover on the couch. He’s fortunate his auntie Raven is there to catch him.

The little family talks about the nearly-scary event all day. It was traumatic for everyone. Except Lucas.

They’ve had two months of quiet and routine. Moira and Charles watched Angel carefully whenever she comes or goes, waiting to exploit a weakness from their guards. Raven has put on an impressive amount weight, and for the last couple of weeks Charles and Moira have been training her in hand to hand combat.

Moira is still taking things slow. Her body can’t heal as quickly as Raven’s and she did give birth under stressful conditions.

They don’t make plans out loud anymore. Instead they cue and signal each other. A nod to wall where Charles discovers a hollow sound, an intense staring contest with the hinges of the front door.

Some nights, Charles skips dinner entirely so he won’t be dosed with whatever sedative has been planted in their food. He lies awake guarding his family in the guestroom. He only leaves to fetch fresh bottles for Lucas. The infant is cutting his first tooth and is making enough work for everyone.

Today, Angel delivered some stuff animals and a camera. Sitting on the couch with the camera in his lap, Charles thinks the gadget looks terribly familiar. He examines it closely and notices where there’s scratches and nicks on the camera’s case. To this point, everything they’ve been given was brand new. When he notices the leather strap has a ‘CFX’ scratched into it, he nearly throws it down.

“That bastard. He was telling the truth.”

Moira comes over and holds his shaking hands. “What is it? What’s wrong with the camera?”  


“It’s mine. I lost it the day I was shot. The shooter took it from me. This is my fucking camera.” He yanks his hands out of her grip, “That son of bitch told me that he had me shot. He’s the one who ordered the officer assassinations in Cairo. It’s true, and he’s had my damn camera this whole time!”

Raven picks the thing up, “I remember this. Sharon gave it to you.”

Moira frowns, “Was something on it? Did it compromise our military?”

Charles makes a face, “What? No! It’s just a bloody camera! I took pictures of my friends, of the sand— of the pyramids! It was stuff I was going to send back to Raven while I was still on tour!”

He feels his whole body straining tight with tension and anxiety. He goes into the kitchen to get a glass of water. When he comes out, he finds his wife and child standing three feet away from Erik.

He rushes to get in front of them. Raven comes to stand by his side.

Erik smiles at the defensive family. “I see you got my gifts. Good. Come here, Charles.”

They’ve had weeks to live with some normalcy. Charles was the man of the house. He was a father and a husband and brother. In just seconds he’s knocked back down to a pet. Erik holds out a hand to him and hastens him over. Charles does as he’s told. He’s forgotten how to tolerate Erik’s touch and quickly pulls his hand away. He doesn’t flinch and cower like he did the last time. This time he balls and loosens his fist, he feels seconds away from taking a swing at the man. Erik turns around expecting Charles to take his coat. So Charles does. Then he tilts his head, expecting Charles to take his hat. So Charles does that as well.

When Erik leans in to kiss Charles on the lips, Charles turns his head. Erik backs off with an amused expression, “Missed me, darling?”

Charles crosses his arms, “As much I’ve ever missed a-“

“Charles,” saves Moira. “Did you put the pasta on boil?”

Charles exhales, “No, _darling_. I did not.” He turns to address Erik. “We’re having spaghetti and meatballs. Are you staying for dinner, Mr. Magneto?”

Erik pulls an unhappy face. Charles swallows a lump in throat, nervous that he may have stepped over some invisible line. Erik switches from patronizing to terrorizing. He stalks over to Raven and grins at her with all of his shark teeth. “You look lovely my dear,” he says reaching out to touch the hem of her sleeve. “I knew you’d looked better than that human hack, Jean Shrimpton does in designer clothes.” She ducks away with a panicked expression as Charles and Moira step up to get between them.

Charles raises his hands in surrender, “Erik. I forgot. You asked me to call you Erik. That’s a lovely name, Erik. Why don’t you come in the kitchen and help me start dinner, Erik.” He pulls on Erik until the man follows him into the kitchen. He closes the door and hopes his family will be alright. He takes a deep breath and decides to busy himself with stirring the sauce.

Erik leans against the door now looking sickened. “You’re rather changeable aren’t you? Is that all it takes to control you, Charles? A single compliment to your sister? How on earth are we going to live together if you’re switching from one thing to another? You’re going to drive yourself crazy. Its best you admit now how scared you are. We can work past that if you just… open yourself to the possibility,” Erik stops rambling and slumps against the door. “But you won’t will you. You’re my prisoner here and you’ll always be afraid. Even when I do nothing but offer you kindness.”

Charles can feel his ears turn red. He knows his face is red. The other man thinks he’s offering kindness? His hand is shaking and the grip he has on the spoon falters before he explodes and throws the thing, sauce and all, at Erik. Erik stands there in his stained suit looking at down at where he’s dripping at the floor. He looks back up at Charles with his eyes wide and eyebrows up to his hairline, “The hell are you doing? This is a three hundred dollar suit! It’s imported!”

The strangeness of the whole exchange shocks a laugh out of Charles. “You damn dandy wannabe. Who knew the fearsome, scary, Red General was also a prissy britches. It’s a wonder you didn’t kidnap my mother.”

Erik raises one brow like he’s considering it, so Charles interrupts, “Not that you should kidnap anyone else that I care about. You already said. You have everything you need to control me here already.” Even as says it, he can tell that’s not what Erik wants to hear.

Erik sighs and slumps further against the door. “You know the first time I saw you, I knew I had to have you.”

Charles turns away from Erik. The man looks sincere and tired and Charles just can’t deal with pitying his oppressor at the moment. He finds another spoon and stirs.

Erik continues to voice his memory to Charles’s back. “It was years ago. You were at a symposium for science and engineering. You must have just graduated. You were the youngest man there, talking passionately to anyone who approached you about your field. I almost went over to you, you know? I almost took you right there. But Azazel came and told me I was needed elsewhere. I left you, then, thinking there was nothing I wouldn’t do to have you at my side.”

Charles can remember a time right when he first enlisted. He was eighteen, and had just earned his first degree in biology. He had went to a conference with his old professors. They tried to persuade him to abandon the Army and use his privilege to dodge the draft. He refused, and went to that conference thinking it might be the only time he got to spread his ideas among his peers. He knew there was a chance he could be dead within a year. Charles stops stirring when he feels Erik press up behind him. He didn’t even hear the other man move, he was so lost in his own memories. To think that this prowling monster has been stalking him for almost a decade. He starts putting pieces together and comes to a conclusion. Charles turns slowly around and looks the man in the eye.

“You had me shot.”

“I did,” Erik admits without a bit of remorse. “Toad said you weren’t hurt badly. I thought it would it make you go home. Maybe you would take up teaching again. Then I could meet you properly.”

“I didn’t go home,” says Charles through his teeth.

“No you did not. You’re very hard to predict. There’s only one thing I know for sure about you, Charles,” he says leaning down to gently kiss Charles. “You’re always trying to save everyone. Just like at Dijon. You don’t want anyone to die. Even when they deserve it.”

Charles lets Erik kiss him again. The older man sighs into it and starts sucking on Charles tongue. Charles isn’t so repressed, he wouldn’t admit this feels good. Still, his stomach turns thinking that his wife is just outside the door. And he can smell the sauce burning. He pulls away and holds Erik back.

“Wait. Please. Dinner,” he says out of breath, “We can do… whatever you want to do. Just wait until after dinner.”

Erik hums and leans forward, resting his head against Charles. “Fuck dinner.”

Charles barks a sharp laugh before he catches himself, “Please. I’d do anything,” he punctuates with a kiss. “Anything you want behind that bedroom door. Just please, wait,” he pleads with big eyes. It’s not hard for Charles to dig into an old reservoir of charm that usually gets him what he wants.

Erik nips at Charles’s bottom lip and makes the man beneath moan when he palms a surprisingly hard cock. Charles tries to squirm away but Erik pins him to the counter. “This is exactly what I’m talking about, Charles. Back and forth. Back and forth.” He keeps rubbing and Charles is trying to reconcile how his arms can push the man away while hips rock up into the offending hand.

“Please,” he begs again. “Please, Erik.” He gasps for air and closes his eyes, thinking he doesn’t want to see himself cum beside the spaghetti.

Erik abruptly stops. The ever-constant smug expression is back and Charles has gone from being incredibly turned on to desperately ill in mere seconds. He roughly pushes the other man away and goes back to the stovetop. “Dinner will be ready in moment.”

Charles jumps when Erik nips him on the ear. “I’m more interested in dessert at this point.”


	16. Pasta Night

**Berlin, Germany June 1963**

Dinner is an unpleasant affair.

At one end of the table sits just Raven, Moira, and Lucas. Raven doesn’t eat as much. She keeps her head down and avoids eye contact with everyone. Lucas started crying unexpectedly and Moira has to keep a hold of him while trying to feed herself.

At the other end of the table sits Charles and Erik. Erik has decided to feed Charles. Charles is sitting close to him, and thanking god that vetoed the other man’s first request. He feels humiliated enough without also sitting in Erik’s lap. Where Raven tries not to look, Moira openly challenges Erik.

“How do you like the sauce? I’m not sure if it’s kosher or whatever it is your people eat,” she says before taking a mouthful.

Playing tit for tat, Erik prompts Charles to take another bite. Charles would doggedly refuse if it weren’t Moira. He imagines that if he were a scrap of meat his wife would be winning the dogfight. He almost enjoys that. God, thinks Charles, Sharon really did a number on his psyche.

After finishing his plate Charles tries to get up to go the dishes, but Erik pulls him back. “Let the ladies get this Charles. We’re going to bed now.” He directs a smile that’s just for Moira, “Excuse us, ladies. Have a good evening.” He stands and walks away knowing Charles is going to follow him.

Charles has only a moment to look at Moira for reassurance. Her eyes are welling up with tears, but all she says is, “We’ll get the dishes, Charles. See you later.”

Charles nods and resigns himself to his fate. He doesn’t hazard a look at Raven. He thinks he might start crying again if does. Instead he walks over to his wife and quickly kisses her and the baby goodnight before heading for the master bedroom.

Erik stops him in the hallway, “No come here.” He pulls the younger man into the library, “I want to show you something.”

Charles frowns, “More pictures of my head cut up? I remember that the last time.”

“No,” says Erik. “These are yours.” He gives Charles a leather bound photo album. Inside are the pictures he took in Africa. The first page is a photo he staged with himself in the center of a group hug from the children of the Tunisian evacuation.

He sits down and turns the page. There’s a photo of Darwin and Alex in a compromising position while Charles is off to the side looking scandalized. He remembers when Sean took that one in their camp. The next is one of Charles in his dress uniform the day they buried a refugee on the march. The man was ill and Charles put a stop to their movement for his care, but even N’Dare couldn’t save him. Charles doesn’t remember who took this. The rest of the photos are candid shots that he thinks were taken by the children who often played with his gear. One of him brushing his teeth, one of him tying his shoes, another of him smiling while holding a beautiful baby girl.

Being a telepath with eidetic memory, he often takes for granted the things other people have to do to remember things. Being cut off from his powers forces him to process information differently. He can honestly say without these images, he could not have remembered the march with such clarity.

Instead of feeling thankful, he feels angry.

Though Erik sits there, happily drinking out a tumbler and watching his face. Charles knows this is not a gift. It was stolen. It was kidnapped the same way he and his family has been. These precious things were taken from him by this man. Erik clearly doesn’t see it the same way. He sits there under Charles’s glare, still drinking out of a tumbler and watching his face with a frown.

“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy to see those. You were for minute there. I saw.”

“You stole these from me. You had me shot and you stole these from me. Why the hell should I be happy, Erik.”

Erik starts to answer but Charles cuts him off, “It’s not a question. Just. Look, I don’t know what you want from me. Why do you want me? Why does it matter so much— you know I can’t _ever_ love you? I don’t _want_ you. I’ll play nice for as long as I have to protect my family, so why are you doing this? Why are you acting like— like,” he stops mid-thought and takes in Erik’s face. The man is stony and closed off now, looking down into his glass.

“Go to bed, Charles. I’ll see you in the morning.” He gets up, leaving Charles alone in the library.

Charles doesn’t like that reaction. For all he knows, the other man is calling Whitehall to start his first punishment. Charles could cuff himself for his stupidity. Mouthing off to the man who already threatened his infant boy. And his sister. And his wife. Charles stands up and quickly heads for the master bedroom. He thinks he might have to beg for forgiveness or learn very quickly how to give head.

He knocks on the door and there’s no answer. So, already aware he’s erred and desperate to make sure he’s not already being punished for it, he turns back to the guestroom. Inside, Raven and Moira are just getting ready for bed. Moira is changing Lucas’s diaper and Raven is taking off her shoes. They both look up like they’re surprised to see Charles. Charles lets out a breath of relief.

“He’s not here.”

“Why would he be here,” asks Moira, knowing who the ‘he’ is. “What happened? Did he hurt you? Are you okay?

Charles shakes his head, “I don’t know what got into me. You know how I am. I just started arguing and accusing him, and I forgot. I forgot there’s so many horrible things he could do to us. I just let my stupid mouth run off to the one man who could destroy everything I love.”

Moira pulls him down to the bed and cries in her shoulder. Raven comes over to save Lucas from being squished by his parents. She finally looks at Charles. “So is it hard to do it? Since you’re a guy, is it hard for you to just lay back and think of England?” She sounds cold and Charles doesn’t know how to answer her.

Moira looks her angrily, “I did it for _you_ , before they could tell I was pregnant. It’s not something to take lightly, Raven.” Her voice catches and Raven looks chastised. She continues, “We have to stick together. No matter what. The way he looked at me at dinner. I know exactly he wants.”

Charles frowns, “You’re the only one he doesn’t want…”

“No,” she corrects him, “He wants to prove that mutants belong together. That you’re the superior species, and therefore I’m not worthy of you. He kisses you when I’m there not to exert power over you, but over humans too. He’s saying look, this is what a _superior_ couple looks like. Your _inferior_ marriage is nothing compared to it.”

Charles closes his eye leans in closer to Moira. If she hadn’t of put it that way he, he wouldn’t have thought of it. He was so caught up in being pursued he didn’t notice the act Erik was putting on had audience. Not just anyone, but his human wife. Charles feels furious all over again. He dries his eyes and sits up thinking Erik was right about how up and down he is.

Raven yawns. Not eating doesn’t mean not drugged. “Did you eat anything,” he asks her.

She nods, “Moira made me while she cleaned up.”

Moira yawns as well. “Let’s just go to bed. We’ll deal with whatever we have to when we get up. Come on, Charles.”

They all get ready for bed and lay down like they did the night before. Twenty four hours ago, this was all calm routine. Raven is lightly snoring and Moira has finally given up. Whatever was in the spaghetti is making it hard for Charles to move at all. He finds he can barely turn over or shift his weight in the bed. His eyes are closing when Charles notices the hall light under the door. It goes off and soft foot prints come up the hallway before stopping in front of the door. Charles holds his breath. He feels like he’s standing under a swinging piano. He quietly waits for someone to cut the cord.

Erik does so when he cracks open the door and looks inside the room. He notes how everyone is sleeping, except Charles. Charles is tired, his eyes are heavy and his limbs feel like lead. Erik closes the door and leaves. Charles lets himself give up on fighting his sleep. He closes his eyes and hopes to wake up to a better morning.

 

When Charles does open his eyes, he’s face down on top of red sheets.

Erik has both hands on the smaller man’s hips while he pistons into Charles’s hole. The headboard is rhythmically thumping into the wall. Thump, thump, thump. Charles spends the first few moments back just focusing on the sound. Charles whimpers as the feeling in his body starts to return. Erik seems to have only just noticed that the man he’s fucking has regained consciousness. He doesn’t address the fact. Instead pulls out, and slams back in.

Charles has to bite the pillow under him to keep from crying out. He can’t move his body yet, but Erik isn’t turned off by that. This is what fucking a cold fish looks like, and Erik seems to be enjoying himself.

Erik grunts as he starts to finish. Charles has no idea how long it’s been. He knows Erik must have carried him out the other room, while his family slept on oblivious. He must have prepped Charles in his sleep because the stinging and burning he felt the first time is replaced with a dull, pounding ache. He feels overstretched but he knows he’s not bleeding from this. Erik was careful before he took what he wanted.

Charles starts to sob into the pillow and Erik reaches out with one hand to smooth the curls on the back of Charles’s neck. He folds over Charles’s back and whispers, “Shh. It won’t be long. You’ve been a good boy, Charles. I’ve decided not to punish you.” He pulls out and shoves in one last time, “Good. You’ve been very good.” He start to cum, with his body pressed tight, jerking and shaking as he empties into Charles. The smaller man feels the hard, invasive cock as it just brushes past his prostate. He feels an electric shock of pleasure, and pants into the pillow. Erik notices and leans down to whisper again, “I’m going to do that again. And again. And again.”

Charles is openly sobbing. He’s been trying to think of something to say, but he doesn’t know what will make this stop. Instead he weakly cries out, “Please, Erik. Please stop.”

Erik bites him on the shoulder, “I’m not hurting you, Charles.” He pulls out his limp dick only to shove in three fingers and crook them inside of Charles’s channel, “I found what I was looking for. You’ll see. You’ll like this from now on.”

Charles shakes his head as much as he can. “No. Please, don’t. Just let me up. Please, Erik.”

Erik takes a fistful of Charles’s hair and turns his head back into the pillow. Charles could always brag about his own sexual prowess, but he is shocked to feel Erik is hard again. And pressing into him. This time Erik grabs his hips and tilts them upward while he slams forward and starts rocking into Charles. This time the thumping against the wall is slower. Charles hears the squelchy sound of skin on skin, lubed up with semen. The head of Erik’s cock massages the bundle of nerves inside Charles.

Charles lets out a surprised cry, and then moans. “Please,” he asks again. Not sure of what he’s asking for this time, he shuts his eyes and tries to think of being anywhere else. Somewhere where he doesn’t have to face the fact that he’s hard too, and rubbing up against the mattress as Erik takes him from behind.  Erik stops only to pull out with a wet popping sound. Charles hopes that it’s all over, but Erik as usual has other ideas.

“Look at me, Charles. Open your eyes.” Charles does as he’s told. Erik is hovering over him like the first but this time. This time he takes Charles’s member in hand and starts pumping up and down. “Look at me, Charles. You’re being such a good boy, just keep looking at me.” He uses his other hand to open Charles’s legs further apart. He slips into the smaller man’s body and begins to move in rhythm with his hand. Charles has to fight to not close his eyes. The sensations are all overwhelming. He tosses his head back forth, only agitating his sweat slicked curls. They flop into his face and slightly obscure his sight. Erik stops pulling on Charles just to smooth the hair back. Satisfied, he goes back to slowly fucking Charles.

The circling hips pumping into him, shove in and out and for a hysterical moment Charles thinks it will never come to end. Erik uses his free hand now to reach up and rub over Charles nipples, before leaning down and biting one. Charles screams out. After he does so he worries about the women hearing in the guestroom down the hall. Erik seems to know what he’s thinking. “Make all the noise you want darling. No one can hear you in here.” He starts to suckle on the swollen, biten nipple Charles can’t help coming. He feels himself tightening around the cocked pressed to the balls inside him.

Erik finally lets go of Charles’s cock, sits back up to piston at a faster pace. Charles feels even more tired now, and oversensitive. His mouth has already gotten him trouble, but he still says, “Are you ever going to stop? Don’t you have hobbies or something?” He feels out of it and knows the drugs he was given has something to do with it.

Erik smiles down at him like he’s just seen a unicorn. He stops, then starts again, trying to finish inside Charles a second time. The thump, thump, thump on the walls becomes hectic. Charles spasms as the other man deliberately continues to ram the oversensitive bundle of nerves in his captive.

“There. There,” pants Erik. He finally climaxes and shudders inside Charles.

He pulls away this time. He flops on to the bed beside Charles with a huge grin on his face.  

If Charles could use his powers, he knows he would kill this man. Not like the order he gave warehouse, but something else. Forcing Erik Lehnsherr to take his own life wouldn’t do. Charles lets Erik wipe him down, while thinking of all the ways he would kill the man.

After cleaning them up, Erik tries to act comforting. Charles refuses comfort.


	17. Missing Persons

Bastogne, Belgium November 1962

Charles has already done things he thought he would never do. He’s lied and manipulated his way into government buildings. He’s turned a man’s brain into so much mush, all because he didn’t have any useful information. He even slept with a woman in exchange for intel. All of this and nothing. It’s been five months since he last saw his sister and wife. His leads told him that Raven contacted a policeman to get over the border. The policeman, had the mind of predator. After Charles tracked him down, the man admitted to luring Raven in with promises of fake I.D.’s and safe transport. What he did was ditch her at one of the Rhineland trading posts. He took all of her money and jewelry as payment. He wasn’t that helpful, and in a rage Charles turned his mind inside out.

He had lost track of Raven completely, but Moira was another story. She had used her connections to get over safely to search for Raven. The night they disappeared, Charles had sat alone at the dinner table, waiting for his family to return. Raven the other day, claiming she was going stay over at a friend’s house. Moira had called him while he was work, she calmly told him that she would be late for dinner.

If he had only bothered to extend his awareness then, they wouldn’t be in this mess. He stays out of Raven’s mind because she made him swear to it. He leaves Moira be because she is a spy. For their relationship to work, they had to work out boundaries, and if Moira says keep out, he keeps out. It was as simple as that. Until the chicken grew cold. And Charles was left at the table frantically reaching out to nothing. Just like with Jean-Paul.

As the weeks went by Charles had asked all of Moira’s contacts for information. He interrogated all the youths that rallied with Raven. He tracked down government agents that might know something and he impersonated their superior. He still came up with nothing. There was only one link to his family and the Rhineland. A call from Daniel Whitehall a few days ago that may finally give Charles the break he needs.

He sits in his favorite bakery, ignoring everyone until Daniel walks in. The blond comes in and takes in his surroundings, “Interesting. I thought you’d want to meet up in the library. You hungry? Are we going to order something? I could use a donut myself,” he rambles on.

Charles sits up and stares the man in the face, “I thought we were friends. I thought we were comrades.”

Daniel frowns, “We are, Charlie. What’s the matter? Is this about Moira and Raven? I told you everything I know man. Look if you want help to rescue them, I’m all in.”

Charles shifts nervously in his seat, “I know she called you before she left. I know you were in contact with her. Please, Daniel tell me where my wife is.”

Daniel takes off his glasses, “I swear to you Charles, I don’t know. She did ask me about some of the trade routes in the Rhineland, but they’re all heavily guarded and well trafficked by soldiers and Shaw’s officials. There’s no way she could have used them. You can read me if you don’t believe me, Charlie.”

Charles doesn’t hesitate to dive in. Daniel’s mind is a cold place, full of shadows and secrets and some sort of hazy lust, but Charles dispels all of that, looking intently for knowledge about Moira’s whereabouts. He comes up empty. So he leaves a few bills on the table and sighs, “Buy your damn donut on me. I’m leaving.” He starts to get up but Daniel grabs his wrist.

“I mean it, Charlie. There’s a lot of men who would fight with you again if you asked. Just say the word. And we’ll go crash Shaw’s gate.”

Charles smiles down at his friend, turning his hand into the grip, solidly shaking the man’s hand. “Thank you, Daniel. I do appreciate the thought.”

He’s at home later, soaking in the tub when he hears the phone ring downstairs. He wasn’t expecting a call from any of his contacts, but he gets up just in case.

Alone in the house, he walks naked from the bathroom to the kitchen. Once there he answers the phone on the wall, “Hello?”

There’s no answer, but Charles can feel the hair on the back of his neck stand. He remembers feeling like this before. He drops the phone on the counter. It as if there was a hole in his perception, a void where there should be a person. The day he was shot, the men were wearing helmets, sneaking around and following him unseen. Charles tries to look nonchalant as he goes back up into his room. He closes and locks the door before he rushes to get dress. He eyeballs where he knows Moira keeps a gun in the nightstand, but doesn’t go for it. Instead he sits on the opposite side of the bed and feels under the mattress for his old army knife. He tucks it into his boot and starts to go back to the kitchen.

The black cloud of nothing is lingering just outside his perception. Sitting down, he decides to address the thing. “I know you’re here. You may as well come out.”

There’s nothing. For a long still moment Charles waits, ready to pull out his knife. He thinks he sees a shadow from the across the floor in front of Raven’s room.

Then there’s something.

A knock to the side of the head puts Charles on the floor. He gets up quickly, brandishing the knife and anticipating attack. The familiar tongue of the green-skinned man darts out and Charles slashes with the knife. A random gust of air seems to push him over. Charles makes a staged retreat for his bedroom. He locks the bedroom door and gets the gun and aims for the closed door. He knows his assailants are still in the house, somehow moving from room to room without being seen.

The giant force knocks down the door and pushes Charles to ground. The frog man leaps into the room. He crouches over Charles. Charles keeps still on the floor. When the man turns back to grin at his comrade, Charles leaps up and stabs the man in the throat. The knife juts upwards to seal his mouth close. Part of the elastic tongue hangs out unmoving. Charles kicks out with good leg and the green mutant falls over on the bed, bleeding out.

The pretty male model mutant stands in the doorway. He doesn’t seem in hurry to retaliate. Instead he quietly raises his hands.

“You want to surrender. After what you did to me? You shot me, three times!” Charles levels the gun at the intruder and the man with a face of marble cracks a handsome grin.

Charles is suspicious, and he’s already killed one man today, he reasons as he starts to pull the trigger.

A sudden blast of air sweeps his hand away, then all the air in Charles’s lungs comes rushing out of his body. Suddenly choking, Charles drops the gun. He falls hard onto floor, twisting his knee as he goes down.

The pain he feels is incredible and like before he thinks he will die.

The assassin walks forward, lifting Charles with a maelstrom of wind and force. He slams Charles down again. He considers his gasping opponent then his fallen partner on the bed. With a sneer he stomps onto the joint of Charles’s bad leg.

Charles would scream out if he could.

He passes out and wakes up to a destroyed room. Blood still stains the bed, but the body of the green man is gone. Charles knows the assassins had connections to what happened to Moira and Raven.

Feeling more zealous than weak, he limps to the phone in the kitchen.

“Daniel. It’s me, Charles. I need your help, my friend. Call me back when you get this. I’ll be in the hospital.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now you know why he was wearing a brace in the first chapter. Janos did it. Erik doesn’t know about that. Yet.


	18. Remember What the Dormouse Said

Berlin, Germany July 1963

 

_“It’s going to be another scorcher today Newt. There’s not a drop rain for relief. It’s time to call in the big guns or a weather witch.”_

Charles frowns at the screen as Tom the purple weather man laughs at his own joke.

He’s been sitting on the couch in a daze for hours. At some point, Raven sat down with him and he held Lucas. Then he remembers Moira standing in front of the TV. She was saying something to him, but he hardly heard anything.

It’s been a long morning for them all. First he woke up to Erik administering his ‘medicine’. Then Erik carried him to the bathtub. He lost time between the tub and waking up on the couch.

He must have eaten breakfast, he thinks. He must have seen Erik off for the day. The other man hates to leave without giving Charles a lingering, if uncoordinated kiss.

Raven comes back and tries to pull him out of the fog he’s been in since yesterday.

He scratches the inside of his arm where numerous track marks dots along his veins. A month ago when he woke up being violated he tried to plead and bargain with Erik to at least wait before trying to use him again. Erik had looked disappointed in Charles and agreed to hold off until he found a pain killer for Charles. It turned out, the medicine was a vial of horrible drugs. Erik wouldn’t tell Charles exactly what was in it.

Whatever it was it was addictive. And going a few hours without a dose made Charles irritable from withdrawal. The first time he went a day without it, he went to sleep and woke up screaming in the red bed. Erik cooed and rocked him gently before pulling out a ready needle, “I think it’s time for your medicine, Charles. Relax. I’m going to take care you.”

Charles would replay that night in his head sometimes. He would blank out and wake up screaming in the kitchen or in the living room. Raven and Moira did their best to help. He almost dropped Lucas while standing in fugue state by the door. Raven and Moira now always watched him whenever he handled the baby.

Erik would try to draw out their evenings, playing the doting husband. They would all sit at the table, eating the meal he probably prepared and Erik would question everyone about their day. The woman women would respond with short tense answer. The illusion of civility that Erik was after continued to baffle Charles. After dinner, he would take Charles into the library and start to ritually administer the mystery cocktail. When Charles was loose and pliant from the high, but before he could go back to sleep, Erik would carry him to bed and make use of the sleepy telepath.

Then there were days when Erik wanted more than an inert doll. He would disappear long enough for Charles to start craving his drugs. Charles would pace the apartment and wait for Erik to return. It’s only happened a handful of times but Charles can tell it was going to be that kind of night. He already feels his hands shaking with need and he despises himself for the weakness. The first time Erik left him for forty-eight hours. Charles had lashed out at his family, and when Erik returned, he ran into the man’s arms and gave him a sloppy kiss. He spent the first hour Erik was home on his hands and knees in the red bed, begging for dose of the drugs. The look on Moira’s face the next morning was full of pity and disappointment.   Charles promised himself that he wouldn’t lose control like that again.

So today he watches as the clock on the wall behind the TV ticks away.

_“Erik Lehnsherr, our very own Savior, is here to explain about his rail project.”_

Moira comes to sit beside him and they watch a clip of Erik laying the foundation for a new high speed monorail. The man is wearing his armor at the time. On the screen he floats above the reporters and the project’s crewman. He gestures with his hands like a magician, and the large beams of metal rise up from truck beds. They fly around in perfect concert before landing. The screen switches back to a live interview.

_“Very impressive! You have a marvelous gift and we should all be thankful that you care so much about the everyday citizens of the combined Greater States. Truly, you are a saint, Magneto.”_

Erik smiles on the screen, _“I’m just doing what anyone would do for their family. We the brotherhood of mutants should always stand together. There was need for better transportation. My father commissioned a plan to answer that need. I merely helped to execute it. We should congratulate the hard-working crew who really made it possible.”_

He cuts a noble figure, now wearing the three piece suit he left in that morning. He’s polished and poised and it makes Charles sick to the stomach. What if, he thinks, just what if the everyday citizens knew what a monster Erik really was? Would they still venerate the murderer and rapist? Would they congratulate him for being a glorified crane and wrecking ball if they knew what he did to the Humans in the concentration camps? That he was threatening a whole family held captive in his own home.

Charles can’t stomach watching any longer, so he tries to sit up. There’s a brief period of where he can be useful between the waning drug-induced daze and the full-blown withdrawal. He intends to spend that time with his son. Moira helps him up and they go into girls’ room. There the baby is flopping about on his belly, grinning at his aunt as she changes shape to entertain him.

Raven puts on a one woman play. Charles smiles and lays on the floor with his son. Moira sits on the bed and offers funny commentary and special effect sounds. Its feels like they’re at home where Raven would act and entertain and Charles would bask in her brightness.

Moira has been training harder with Raven and they both look healthy and fit. Charles feels envious, knowing he’s let himself get thin again. He’s not eating whole meals and he hardly ever moves around. Erik delights in carrying him around like he’s a child. Even his once blessed knee is acting up. He weathers the constant ache and pains he feels from being overused elsewhere in his body. He tries not visibly wince when he sits down and hopes there no bruising around his mouth. He hasn’t taken a proper look at himself in the mirror for days, too afraid to face his own reflection.

Erik comes home late that night. They’ve already gone to bed. Moira put herself in front of Charles in hopes of waking up in case their captor came for him in the night.

It doesn’t bother Erik. Charles wakes up to find himself floating over the bed. Erik doesn’t jostle anyone in the crowded bed because he’s been using his powers to slip thin, but sturdy ropes of metal around Charles. The wires lift him easily and he drifts over the bed without a sound. Once he’s clear of the others, Erik carries him bridal style back to the red bed.

Erik sits down on the bed, arranges Charles until the smaller man is straddling his hips. He kisses Charles and nuzzle his neck, all the while holding on tight to keep the other man from flopping over. Charles’s knee feels achy from being bent, but he doesn’t say anything. He sighs and tries to will his limbs to cooperate. Erik puts one hand behind Charles’s head to lead them in a kiss. He pulls away with smile. “I have surprise for you, Charles. You’ve been so good.” He kisses Charles just under his chin, “Such a good boy, my dear.”

Charles thinks he’s pulling a face, but he couldn’t confirm it. He closes his eyes and feels himself being laid out carefully on the bed. He opens them again when Erik gets up. The man returns with the needle kit and several vials. He holds up one with blue liquid, “This is to make sure you have a really good time from now on. I just got it from my doctor today. He made it especially for you.” He ties on a tourniquet and swabs Charles inner arm. He injects the blue drug and sits back waiting for some effect.

Charles would scoff at the man if he could speak. He would argue that’s it stupid to wait for some instant result, when Charles has been rendered immobile since dinner. As he thinks this, he realizes he does feel a difference in his body. He feels hot and tight like he could burst at the seams at any moment.

Erik starts laughing, a light huffing sound that make Charles even more uneasy.

“I do believe it is working. Don’t you want to get undressed?” He says like Charles has a choice. There is a spark of heat across his body whenever Erik touches him. He feels it in his shoulders as the man lifts him up to remove his night shirt. Then on his sides, and then on his legs where Erik pulls his pants and underwear off. Erik is grinning as he stands up to undress himself. He does it slowly like the tease of tone skin actually does something for Charles.

Actually it does _do_ something for Charles. Charles is surprised to find his body is interested in tonight’s proceedings. He manages to give Erik a dirty look before finding his voice. “An aphrodisiac? Really Erik. Can you be anymore pathetic?”

Erik falters for moment before smiling again, “You’re just mad because I solved our problem.” He leans down to kiss Charles on the nose.

The move infuriates Charles like it always does. But Charles feels his blood boiling. He needs relief from whatever he was given, and he knows he won’t feel it unless he gets hard and comes first. “Get on with it then, you bastard.”

Erik laughs, “Don’t be greedy, Charles. I’m going to take my time tonight.” He starts to slowly kiss a meandering trail down Charles’s chest. Straying from his collarbones to lightly teeth at the younger man’s nipples. He goes down to dip his tongue in Charles’s navel and kiss down the patch of curls before suddenly taking Charles’s cock in his mouth. He bobs his head and Charles can feel his legs trembling from the sensation of being engulf in the tight wet heat of Erik’s mouth. The other man keeps sucking and licking until Charles is fully erect. When he’s satisfied with that, he pulls up and smugly licks his lips. “I told you it would get better.”

If Charles were capable of any movement, he knows he would knee the other man in the face. He settles for sneering and commenting, “I’ve had better. You hardly deserve a gold star.”

Erik ignores him, use to hearing Charles snap off biting remarks during the night. He silences Charles by prepping the man’s hole with two dry fingers. The burn of it keeps Charles quiet for a long moment. When Erik thinks Charles is chastised enough, he takes a bottle of oil from the nightstand. He pours some on his fingers and continues stretching Charles. He pulls out only to slick up his cock. Without ceremony he slips inside Charles.

Charles has created a special headspace just for sex with Erik. He imagines himself elsewhere, in the sun, perhaps waiting in line at a bookstore. He thinks about the article he was working on before Jean-Paul was taken. He thinks about how one of his students argued badly that he couldn’t write with a broken thumb so that’s why he had someone else type up his report. Whatever distraction he comes up with is dulled by the feeling of fullness in his lower body.  Erik keeps on moving in and out and Charles has to flit from scene to scene in his mind. They’re all interrupted when he feels his head bump into the headboard. Erik’s pushed him all the way up in the bed.

Charles dares to open his eyes and sees the other man has folded him over. Erik is up on his knees and he has Charles’s paralyzed legs bent over his shoulders. The new angle hits Charles just right, and he lets out a groan. Erik looks on triumphant. He slows his pace and looks Charles in the eye before biting the meat of one calf. He takes Charles cock in hand for a brief second to pump him back up to fullness. He lets go before Charles can feel any relief and resumes his slow-paced slide of in and out.

Charles whimpers as the sensation of being hard without any stimulation to his cock becomes too much.

Erik teases him again with a few quick pumps before letting go again. He drops Charles legs to one side and moves to lie down behind the other man. He slides his fingers up the crevice of Charles’s ass and takes a handful of the man’s backside and squeezes the meat of it. He whispers, “I want you to beg me, Charles. Beg me to let you come.” He bites Charles behind the ear, “Beg me and I might give you what you want.”

Charles makes a low keening noise and feels his resolve to stay strong tonight crumble. He thinks about his wife down the hall for a second. In his search for his sister and wife, he slept with the wife of a black market informant. In exchange she got him the maps he used later to lead his company into the Rhineland undetected. He suspects now that the woman had been planted by Daniel the whole time. It makes him angry to think that he’s already let himself do horrible things. What’s one more sin he thinks as he closes his eyes.

“Please Erik. I’ve been so good. Please let me… Please. I beg you,” with little urgency. It’s not the most convincing plea he’s ever made in this bed and Erik knows that.

Erik stretches to kiss Charles near the mouth before turning the younger man over on his belly. He slides a pillow under Charles hips. “Use that. I’m not going to touch you again, Charles.”

Charles frowns at the headboard he’s facing. Erik roughly takes him by the hair. It’s grown out longer, but the sides over his temple were recently cut so a doctor could easily inspect his implants. Erik has gifted him with details about the surgery that rendered him powerless. Apparently, Erik thinks crippling a mutation with technology is horrible, but he’s fascinated by the application to mutants who need to be retrained, as he puts it. He explained its mechanics in depth one night while sitting in the library with Charles on his lap. Charles had listened and committed it to memory while he felt Erik rut against him while they were still clothed.

Now, Charles has a spark of inspiration. He knows the only reason he’s been reduce to a living doll is because he’s unable to interrupt the constant signal from his inhibitors. He thinks, just as Erik slides back in, that there may be a chance for him to escape after all. Erik never wears a helmet inside the apartment. Angel and all the other guards and attendants that come to deliver their food and clothes are always bareheaded. There’s no reason he couldn’t use his telepathy to get out of the building. No reason at all. The spark of inspiration is enough to give Charles hope. He hasn’t felt that in a long time.

He tries not to give himself away, moaning as Erik changes the angle of his thrusts again. He feels his hips being squeezed and massaged.   Erik reaches down strokes his spine and bites his shoulder. Charles can tell the other man is close but for once he doesn’t care. What’s knowing the man will leave him sticky and dripping on the sheets before using his body again? Now it’s all a temporary state of discomfort. That spark of hope has grown into confidence.

This time when he retreats into his mind, he imagines the sun on his face and blood on his hands.


	19. The Quest for Fire

Berlin, Germany August 1963

Having a brilliant epiphany while surrounded by your enemies makes it hard to communicate with Moira and Raven. A few weeks prior, while lying on his stomach and being sodomized, Charles had an idea. It would take every scrape of his charm and an iron stomach, but he willed himself to become a better actor. He started small. He offered smiles to Erik. The man seemed to like that. He laid his head on the other man’s shoulder before he went to sleep. Erik would pet him on head. He looked eager to see Erik return. Erik would smile and put up his own hat before going to kiss him. Charles put down a good, strong foundation for the next step in his plans.

Silently he tried to communicate that the change was necessary to Moira. Still, she seemed to think it was the drugs that were making him so pliant.

The drugs affected his mobility and for brief periods even his reasoning. But whenever Charles had control over his body, he played a part. He begged and moaned when he was mounted. He whispered earnestly, “Thank you” whenever he woke up in the red bed already being fucked.

Erik seemed especially eager to please.

Strike when the iron is hot they say, so Charles did.

One morning, at the end of summer, he pulled away his arm before Erik could drug him. He forced himself to sit up and pulled the other man into a kiss. “Not today Erik. Please? I think, we’ve moved past needing anything. I’ve moved past it. It doesn’t hurt with you,” he says looking into Erik eyes, “I want to be awake.” He kisses Erik again and whispers across the man’s lips, “I want to feel everything.”

Erik blushes and takes the bait, putting away the needle kit. “Are you sure?”

“As sure as I’ve ever been… if you are.”

Erik looks at him bewildered, “What do you mean? If I am? Of course I’d preferred it if I didn’t have to drug you, you left me no choice.”

Charles shakes his head ‘no’ before Erik starts an argument. He pulls the other man down into the bed. Once he has Erik arranged on his back, Charles straddles his hips. Thankfully he’s still naked and Erik is only wearing his robe. He rocks back and forth on Erik’s lap, kissing the man on the mouth. When he pulls away he smiles, one of his practiced smiles he saved for Good Christian Girls. He feels Erik harden just from the look, and with trembling hands he separates the other man’s robe and hovers just above that hard cock.

“People tire of me.” He says with as eyes as big as he can manage, “They throw me away, or they block me out.” He puts a hand to his temple. “It’s the most painful thing for a telepath to hear. To know that the person you want to be close to doesn’t want you the same way.” When he was young his mother told him the best lies are mostly truth. Charles swallows, thinking about the truth in his lie, remembering what kept him from forming relationships before he was married. “That they can’t stand having something so intimate. Up to now, I’ve been able to hear it from everyone. Even Moira.”

“That bitch!”

Charles lays a finger across Erik’s lips to shush him, “And even my sister. No one wants to be close to me for long. I’ve always known that. I’ve always felt apart from everyone else. But with you it’s different.” There’s no resistance from his body as he raises up to guide Erik’s cock inside himself where’s he still slick. He seats himself and rests his head just on top of Erik’s, feeling the other man wetly pant against his neck.

“You’ve done so much just to get me here.” He says rising up and coming down, “You do so much just to keep me… I think— god Erik.” He stops himself to kiss Erik on the lips again. “Just tell me. You’re not going to send me away? You’re not going to get tired of me?”

Erik pulls him closer and looks so serious and sad for Charles, it would break Charles’s heart if he were anyone else. The man hugs him and rocks into him with sudden jolt. It’s enough to make his knee ache, but Charles ignores it.

Erik slows down and keeps talking, “I would never get tired of you! Oh, Charles.” He punctuates each word with a thrust upwards. “Those blasted humans, they’ve made you feel wrong all this time. I knew it was something like that.” He backs up to put his hands on either side of Charles’s face. “Listen to me, Charles. You are perfect. Together we could be so much more. We fit, you and me. In every way. I’m so certain of it.”

Charles nods and lets a single tear fall down his face. God he’s good, he thinks with a smile.

Erik kisses his cheek and then his eye where the tear fell. “Alright, no more drugs. No more sedatives. From now on, I want to see you be yourself. You are beautiful Charles. You should be celebrated, revered. I’m going to worship you for the rest of my natural life,” he huffs out a laugh and pulls Charles into another kiss. He starts to rock up into Charles with a stuttering rhythm. Then he bites on Charles’s neck where it’s exposed.

Erik comes in record time and doesn’t seem to mind that Charles didn’t even get hard.

Charles rests his head on the man’s broad shoulder and sighs like a contented cat. He rubs a hand up and down Erik’s chest. He can feel comfortable with doing that. Erik is healthy, lean, and muscular. He tries to appreciate the fact that he could have had a less attractive captor. Fred Dukes could have stalked him. Or that creepy vampire Essex. He tells himself, he’s almost lucky to have such a fine specimen of manhood to obsess over him.

His mother would probably be proud.

After laying around in the bed and exploring the full use of his limbs for the first time in a long while, Erik gives him a bath. It seems the other man was genuinely enjoying their morning routine and doesn’t bother with upsetting it just because Charles can manage to move his own legs and wash his own ass.

When they come out for breakfast, Erik goes through the fridge and pantry. He’s throwing away half of the fresh things they were given yesterday. Charles gives him a weak smile from the table. Erik reacts like he’s just seen the sun for the first time. When he’s done throwing away all the food that’s been drugged he’s left with bread and eggs. He laughs since he just threw out the syrup. “Care for some toast?”

Moira and Raven don’t react outwardly to the amiable atmosphere in the kitchen. Moira eyes Charles carefully, looking for a reason for the change. He smiles at her before he sits up to take Lucas, “I can feed him this morning. I feel much better.” That’s enough for Moira to hand over the baby and the bottle. Raven sits in her usual place with a puzzled frown embedded deeply on her face.   Charles figures he owes her an explanation after Erik leaves.

But Erik doesn’t leave.

Instead of going out for the day to do whatever he does, he buzzes Angel. He tells her that he’ll be down to his office in a moment but after that, he’s taking the day off.

Charles knows Moira is on the same page he is, taking note of the fact Erik has an office somewhere in the building. They still haven’t left the spacious apartment. Being able to get a sense of the floorplan would be helpful. Charles clears his throat. He means to ask about the office but he feels queasy from the breakfast.

He turns to the side and throws up. Erik rushes over to him, “What? Are you alright?”

Charles thinks about biology. He knows his body has been dependent for some time on a various drugs given to him regularly. He’s now gone without since last night. His body is turning on him at just the right time. He throws up again on Erik’s shoes. He lets himself slump into Erik’s arms while the other man curses about his expensive shiny shoes and orders Moira to clean everything up.

By mid-morning, Charles has been moved back to the red bed.

Erik called one of his doctors. A man with curly white hair introduces himself as Dr. Annaud and starts examining Charles. He has very stern words for Erik when he’s done. “You have to consult me, General. You have to let me know if there are any changes to the regiment ahead of time. Now the project is all off-balanced.” He examines Charles’s teeth like he’s inspecting a test animal. Charles can safely assume this is one of doctors who assisted Whitehall in disabling him.

The good doctor continues to be short with Erik. “If you’re interested in weaning him, I have to give you a much a smaller dose, and we have to slowly bring it down. This will help,” he says hand-feeding Charles a large pill of all things. “There, once a day at breakfast for two weeks. Then I will bring it down again. Will that be all, General?”

Erik dismisses the man and takes Charles into the living room. They take over the couch for the rest of the day.

Moira and Raven stay out of the living room until Lucas starts to cry. When Moira comes out she hesitatingly approaches the men on the couch. She eyes Erik with caution while addressing Charles, “I think he just misses you. You usually watch that show with him right about now.”

Charles sits up too fast and Erik helps him, “Slow down, darling.” He grins at Moira. Charles rolls his eyes when the man looks elsewhere.

“Give me the baby, and I’ll turn the show on.” Says Erik, like there’s nothing wrong. “We’ll watch it together. Come on over,” he says inviting to sit. He pulls Charles up and makes space on the other end. He keeps an arm wrapped around Charles and holds out the other expecting the baby.

Something in Charles flips at the thought of Erik holding Lucas. Moira seems the same, stepping back from the couch. She shakes her head and Charles swats at Erik’s arm, saying “I can hold him. He’s my baby,” in the same instant.

Erik narrows his eyes and looks between the two of them. “What? You don’t you trust me with the baby. I’m only the person providing for it. Feeding it. Clothing it. Why shouldn’t I hold the baby, Charles?” He looks betrayed and Charles want to admit everything now. He wants to scream, and fight and bite until there’s no doubt about how much he doesn’t trust Erik with his child.

Moira clings to her son tight. Charles knows that a confrontation right now would only harm them both, so Charles tries to think of way to diffuse the atmosphere without giving himself away.

Erik stands up and crosses over quickly to Moira. He finds himself at the sharp end of a knife that Raven brandishes from out of nowhere. He doesn’t even look at her as he swats the weapon away. Charles gets up from the sofa to stand between his family and Erik.

Erik raises his hands. “What is this? I’d almost think you weren’t grateful. Here am I, working hard for the Mutant Brotherhood, and providing a life for you and your whore wife and human bastard and this is what I get— disrespect in my own home! Untrusted with even holding a simpering baby!” He looks wild as he rants. Everything in the building seems to vibrate and shake. Especially all the metal furniture in Erik’s apartment.

Charles wants to snap back, but he holds his tongue. He holds Raven back as well. He prays she’ll understand later why he didn’t just attack the monster that’s made their lives hell.

Charles takes a deep breath. “This is my family, Erik. You promised that if I behaved myself, they would be safe. You promised to leave them alone. Raven is scared of you. Moira is scared of you. That’s what you wanted. But me.” He takes a step forward, “I’m not scared of you. I never have been. Do you want me to be now? When we’ve finally started making progress… in our relationship.” He swallows and tries to forget that Moira and Raven stand just behind him. He kisses Erik quickly on the mouth and whispers, “Leave my family alone. Leave my son alone, please, Erik.”

Erik pushes him away and looks back at the women. He eyes them both and then stares at the baby, reaching out with a hand, “I think it’s time he got to know his Uncle Erik.”

“Erik!”

“And you want me to leave them alone? For everyone to be safe— in my house! Even when the humans and traitors I’ve sworn to annihilate are still breathing and walking around like they own the fucking place,” he all but spits at Moira.

Charles rushes between them again, this time without a shred of patience. “Fuck off, Erik! This isn’t what we’re doing anymore. You said before that you want us to be civilized, where there you are. You’re free to take anything you want from _me_. Anything. But not my wife and not my child. You lay a finger on my son and you’ll have to kill me, Erik.”

Erik huffs and puffs, but doesn’t blow the house down. Instead of trying for the baby again, he grabs Charles by the back of neck and kisses him. Charles tries to kiss him back, but Erik bites down hard on his tongue. Charles is scrambling to get away when Erik yanks him again, “That’s enough pretending!”

Around a mouthful of blood, Charles tells his family, “No stay back. It’s alright. Argument over.” The blood drips down his chin and Erik stops him from wiping it off. Charles is almost thankful when Erik pulls him by the arm and drags him to the library. Outside in the hall, Charles can hear Moira and Raven fighting about what to do. He hopes that they stay level headed while he tends to the caveman that just dragged him back to the den.

Erik slams the metal door. He pushes Charles to the side and marches to his desk.

“Erik, just listen for a moment.”

“I’m done listening. I tried to be patient with you, and you immediately tried to take advantage of me!” He points a finger at Charles as he opens the top drawer. He eyes Charles up and down, “I think it’s far too soon to leave you untreated. Clearly you have deep seeded issues— we can only address them when you’re altered.”

Charles looks around the room. Surely there’s some invisible camera recording this exchange for Candid Camera, he thinks. Once he’s sure Allen Hunt isn’t about to leap out of the corner, Charles addresses Erik’s crazy by throwing a couch cushion. Then he circles around the sofa and throws a book. Then another book. He’s attacking Erik and with anything not nailed down in the library. Erik dodges every item smoothly enough and feints away when Charles gets too close with a globe. He’s playing with Charles but the telepath doesn’t care anymore. He lifts a hefty dictionary and lobs it at the other man.

It actually hits Erik in the face. Erik falls down and Charles rushes to sit on the metal bender’s chest. “You think I’ve taken advantage of you! After everything you’ve done! You think I’m not in my right mind because of what— because you’re still a beast and a monster and I don’t want you to touch my child!”

Erik doesn’t have to exert a lot of strength to reverse their positions. Charles is still weak from being inactive, but he thrashes as Erik grips his wrist and holds him still against the wooden floors.

Just like in the beginning, all the anger and fighting has only stimulated Erik below the belt. He leans down to nip at Charles’s bloodied mouth before biting down hard on Charles’s neck. Charles can’t help crying out. He looks at the door half-expecting the women to be on the way to topple Erik. Erik grins as he looks back at the door. Another second and they do indeed hear pounding from the other side.

“Get away from him, you fucking ogre!” Shouts Raven. They can hear where Moira is trying to wrestle her back away from the door. Lucas is somewhere further off, crying his head off. Probably about missing his show, thinks Charles.

Erik leans down again to lick a red stripe across Charles’s cheek. “They can knock all they want. The door is now sealed shut. You and I are going to discuss some things.” He starts to rut against Charles’s leg, “And then I’ll decide how to punish you this time. What did I say before?” He actually looks as though he’s forgotten. He rips open Charles’s shirt and bites the man on the collarbone. He sits up when he finally remembers what he said the first day, “Oh yes, a call to Whitehall is in order.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my head the voice of Bruce from Filth keeps slipping in to narrate, because Charles has gone all Machiavellian schemer, and while the Charles we normally see is limited by his moral compass, this one has gone through war and the sort of childhood that leaves him more inclined to act in any way that ensures his survival.


	20. The More You Know

Berlin, Germany August 1963

Charles goes still, “No. No. Please Erik, no. Please.”

Erik reaches between them. He shoves a hand into Charles pants and roughly grabs at his cock, “Keep saying that. Just like that. I want to hear you.”

Charles pants, “Please,” as he tries to squirm away, but he may as well be under a boulder with Erik on top of him. Erik starts pulling and tugging, rubbing his thumb against the head of Charles’s limp cock. Charles still squirms to get away.

Erik abruptly lets go and slams his hand down by Charles’s face. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Charles turns his head, letting tears slide down to the floor. “I hate you. I hate you, Erik.”

Erik looks torn between crying and murdering Charles. Charles looks back at him and sees the glimmer of something vulnerable in the other man. The iron is still hot, he thinks. Erik lets go of Charles and starts for the desk again but Charles yanks him back to floor.

“I hate you so much,” he says quietly. Then pulls Erik’s face close and whispers. “I hate that you make me hate myself. That you’re forcing me every day to betray my wife. That it’s so good sometimes it hurts,” Erik melts under his hands, already satisfied with the confession. But Charles is determined to finish hammering his anvil. He accepts it’ll take time to make something shiny with the rough ore of man above him.

Erik kisses him gently this time in quiet apology for the all the violence. Charles continues, “I wish I could share it with you. How I really feel, but we both know I’m too angry about everything to be trusted. You’re right, I’m not in my right mind. No sane person could want you so much.”

Erik pushes Charles down on the floor and examines his face. He must not find anything false because he continues kissing Charles, now gently if a bit rushed. Charles lets himself get swept up in it. He pulls Erik closer.

As he does so, he realizes the only way he can really give Erik what he wants is if he appears to really want him. So Charles thinks and thinks. In his mind he’s on his wedding night, but one glimpse of Moira’s garter belt is enough to flip his stomach. He rather not spoil something special. He thinks instead of the Brick Lady. The woman who was so contained and fearful of her ability that she tried desperately to control her emotions. She turned out to be quite loud.

Charles closes his eyes. He blocks out the sound of heavy breathing from Erik while reciprocating his kisses. He imagines himself back in the dingy pay-by-night rental on top of a creaky bed letting the large, muscular woman ride him. He smiles to himself as he remembers how she giggled and called him ‘cute for a munchkin’.

Erik snaps him out of the memory with a sharp pinch to his thigh. “Are you in there?”

Charles smiles as he opens his eyes, “Yes. Please, Erik. Yes.”

Erik narrows his eyes in doubt. “The proof is in the pudding, Charles.”

Charles can’t hold in a tired laugh, “That is a terrible saying.”

Erik tries to ignore him, but his eyes flicker from Charles’s smiling face to his flaccid member. “It’s relevant all the same.” He says almost sadly.

Charles looks down at where Erik has stopped undressing them both. He’s left exposed to the air, with his shirt open and hanging off his shoulders. He tries to ignore all the red stains. Like the first time, only Erik’s cock is out and he’s already spreading Charles legs and kneeling between them. He’s not having any problem proving anything, and it’s probably Charles’s imagination but the man looks bigger in bright daylight of the library.

Charles thinks he should defend his manhood. “I’ve been drugged for weeks now, you idiot,” he says resisting the urge to cover himself. “You have to know that disrupts my normal hormone levels.” He doesn’t know anything about that but has a master’s in science to back him up, “I’m in a state of fluctuation— or rapid change or something, its knocks me off kilter. I’ll probably end up fat and bald.”

Erik rolls his eyes. “It doesn’t mean you should be soft when we’re together. If we fit perfect, then you should feel it too. I want you to feel it. You said you did too. You’re a liar and con!”

Charles pushes him away, “I’m a captive, Erik! A prisoner of fucking war! What the hell do you want from me? No…” he stops himself. This a step backwards. He tentatively kisses Erik. “I can’t do this alone, alright? You have to help me. You have to make it good or it won’t work. Erik, please.” He kisses him again. “I know you can make me feel good. No drugs or anything. Stop worrying about my dick, and just make feel again. Come on,” he hitches forward with his hips pulling Erik closer. “Come on, Erik. Please. I want you to.”

Erik doesn’t need to be told twice.

He does need to be told to slow down. Charles does so and closes his eyes as Erik starts to stretch him with his fingers. It’s hard to place a memory in his own sexual history that covers the feeling of intrusion. He looks back to the awkwardness of his first time. He had been privately tutored for most of his formative years, but entering college at the ripe old age of 14 changed his whole outlook on education. Especially when a buxom young teaching assistant mistook him for her blind date. He awkwardly corrected her, but she decided to take him home anyway. She walked him through how to finger a woman and how to roll on a rubber. He was beet red by the time he got anywhere, but that was over quickly enough. He ruefully smiles, thinking Erik could probably use some lessons from Ms. Anders as well. Knowing the slickness between his legs is likely spit, is a turn off.

Erik gets up to go to the desk. Charles is aware there is some blessed oil there from the last time he was mounted in the library.

Erik doesn’t bother reintroducing himself or at least giving Charles a warning. Charles opens in his eyes in time to see Erik lining up with his hole, using his thumb to stretch it wider before entering. He stops with just the slick head inside the ring of muscle and takes Charles’s cock in hand again. “Prove to me that this is good to you, Charles.”

Charles closes his eyes and brings his good leg up to bring Erik closer. He breathes out through his nose and concentrates just on the feeling of the hand on his cock. He remembers being in South Korea and meeting with a fellow telepath called Tessa. She didn’t harbor half of the moral objections he did about using her powers and gathered intelligence for the army. The one night they had was mostly on the astral plane, but it left him physically drained and completely satisfied. He sighs as he remembers the feeling of her hands on him. He opens his eyes to see Erik evaluating him, looking for genuine interest. Charles answers his look, “Fuck me Erik. Please, just fuck me.”

Erik pushes all the way in, and shudders all over like he could come from that alone. Charles takes that as a good sign uses his good leg to urge Erik to move. Erik does so. Charles concentrates on the feelings he’s had before with having good sex, he strikes out the thought of what the man above him did just minutes ago. He feels all the adrenaline from the fight start to redirect. A shock of pleasure as Erik jabs at the nerves bundled inside him and he’s almost painfully hard by the time Erik finally starts to pump the fist holding him with a steady rhythm. It’s not easy to keep from flagging as he hears Raven again pounding at the door.

Erik stops and pulls out. He stands up and adjusts himself, pulling his pants up and zipping up. He does it so quickly Charles almost misses the whole thing. He struggles to get up off the floor and follow Erik. He wraps the shirt around himself and pulls his pants back on.

Erik doesn’t leave him enough time to straighten up properly as he stomps off to the door and opens it.

Raven stands on the other side with a frying pan in mid-air. Erik flicks a finger and the thing flies off, taking her with it into the wall opposite the door. The frying pan handles stretches out and ties her down to the wall as she tries to pull away and attack Erik.

Erik just stands in the doorway waiting for Charles to make himself decent. He’s such a gentleman, thinks Charles, as he goes to his sister. “Where’s Moira?”

“She went back in the room with Lucas,” she says while kicking out at Erik.

Charles uses one hand to keep his shirt together and another to pull Erik along. “Let’s just go bed. Put her down and we can continue our discussion in our room. Come on, Erik,” he says before he leads the way. Erik looks between the Xavier siblings before following Charles. Charles walks into the room and sits on the bed, getting undressed. Erik weighs his options between one naked Xavier and the one pinned to his wall. He decides to let the girl go and closes his door.

Charles rewards him by stretching out and fingering his own hole, “Come on Erik. We were just getting somewhere interesting. Come on, man.”

Predictably, Erik goes to him. They spend the rest of the day in bed.

Long after the sun goes down, Erik finally leaves Charles alone in the room. He gets up first to clean them off then slinks out of the room to go to the kitchen.

Charles lays in the soiled bed and doesn’t allow himself to think of the here and now. He thinks about the future. In the last several hours he’s managed to come twice and that was enough for Erik. He stopped counting as Erik came in him or on him. Again he puts that out of mind.

When Erik returns with a plate of warm food, a few pieces of reheated baked chicken and some mashed potatoes and peas. He smiles from ear to ear. “I think I should change those sheets. They had quite the workout. Come over here and eat something,” he lays the food out on a table in the room and pulls out a chair. Then thoughtfully lays a cushion down in the seat.

Charles is so charmed he could throw up. He doesn’t.   Instead he moves, smiling as he gets up and stiffly makes his way to the table and the food. Erik goes back to the bed and starts stripping the stained and sweaty sheets. Charles tries not to act surprised about seeing Erik move to a wall behind him and wave a hand. A panel opens up and the taller man simply dumps the sheets inside it. He waves his hand and opens the locked closet door and goes inside. It’s a spacious walk-in filled with uniforms and suits on one side. The other side has some of Charles’s new clothes and a cubby with all the red bedding Charles is used to seeing. The sight of it makes his hands shake, as he remembers the first time he woke up in here, but slams his fist down on the table.

Erik looks at him, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Charles covers his lapse, “Nothing. I just… I was just wondering about the bed. Could you find some blue sheets or something? I’ve always liked blue. And green. And yellow.” He smiles tightly, “Anything but red. It’s gotten rather monotonous don’t you think? Don’t you ever tire of seeing the same thing?”

Erik frowns at the bundle in his hand. “This is all I have at the moment. Do you need it now?”

If Charles had illusionary powers, he would believe there was giant lightbulb glowing over his head. “No, not right now. That’s fine for now.” He tries to be nonchalant while he eats the chicken with his fingers. “I was wondering about the laundry. You never have to hand Angel a hamper like we do.”

Erik shrugs, “That room was originally my private studio. I used to sculpt in there.”

Charles raises his eyebrows with genuine interest, “An artist then?”

Erik smiles shyly, “A bit. Nothing for show or anything. Just where I would draft plans for the projects that needed my help around the capitol or wherever my father commissioned a new work done. I made small scale models for the real architects. Even for this building.” He stops looking so shy, “You’re not planning to escape with the old plans are you? They’re in the library, but like the guestroom, the building has mostly changed since then. I’m afraid you’re out luck there.”

Charles nods. Talking to Erik is like playing chess with Erik. The man is an annoying chess player. He’s defensive for a second before he’s relentlessly offensive. And there’s all that fondling he has to endure in the library. Charles puts it out of mind and continues, “So you recently had the room done over.”

Erik smiles darkly this time as he hovers over the bed. “I thought you might want your own space when you first arrived. I was right wasn’t I?”

Charles tries not to look affected, but his hands are shaking so much he sits his chicken leg down. Erik keeps making the bed, either oblivious or happy with the effect he’s had on Charles. Charles reasons he should continue collecting information. He’s been piecing together a new history about Shawland from the little stories Erik tells him at night. Charles is now aware that what little Freed Europe knows about Shaw’s ascent to power has never been accurate. He knows Erik had a large part in it all.

“You were telling me a story last night, about the day your Father took you to Japan.” He’s learned that Erik always refer to Shaw as his Father. Not Commander or President, though he’s never said they were related and there’s no record of Shaw having any heirs. “I’ve never been there. What was it like?”

Erik fluffs a pillow and tucks in the new sheets. He’s concentrating on the task with fierce determination. If Charles had his telepathy, he think he might hear something like step by step instructions for bed making going on in the man’s brain. Erik eventually answers when he’s satisfied with the sharp corners of his bed making. He moves to sit by Charles at the table. He even takes a piece of chicken and steals a bite. “Japan was cold. We were in the mountains. My father was negotiating with the Emperor. It didn’t work out.” He shrugs, “They were set upon keeping with the terms of treaty they made with Captain America, and they were so thankful that the old human president hadn’t sent a second bomb.” He looks disgusted and angry with nation’s response to the end of the war.

“When my father learned they couldn’t be reasoned with, he told me to shake all the metal I felt in the city below us. There was lot of factories and shipping yards, I tore almost everything apart.”

Charles stares Erik, “You are the great earthquake of Nagasaki?”

Erik smiles like he’s been complemented, “My Father was very proud of me.”

Charles can’t keep looking the man in the eye, knowing now he was solely responsible for murdering thousands of people after the war was officially ended. “What did your mother think?” He asks, aware that Erik never mentions his mother. He’s suspected the gray woman in the photo by the bed is her, but he’s never probed. When Erik rambles about his little histories, he always talks about the father of the Mutant Brotherhood. Sebastian Shaw has done a fine job on this man since he was very young. But Erik never talks about his real parents. Charles suspects they were human.

Erik shrugs, “Mutti is like she always is, she’s…” he waves a hand around with a frown. “She’s always preoccupied with her house now. Even then, she was preoccupied with her house making and cooking. Politics are not important to her.” He stands up and leaves the table.

Charles frowns down at his plate. The woman who birthed Lehnsherr survived the camps? He actually thought she may be dead in a mass grave. He stutters to keep up the conversation, “That sounds like my mother.”

Erik looks uninterested, “Your mother is a drunk and a whore. She’s nothing like my mother. My mother only belongs to Father.” He retreats to the bathroom and leaves Charles red-faced at the table. It’s been enough going his whole life, knowing how people see Sharon, he thinks. It’s another for a complete stranger to stamp her with a scarlet letter. He squashes down on his surprising anger to focus.

He’s just learned something new after all.

Shaw isn’t his just Erik’s leader after all. He’s heard others in the Shawland States refer to the man as ‘Father’ before. But is he’s is actually Erik’s father? Charles would love to find out, but he doesn’t risk it just now since Erik seems to be in a mood. He stays put at the table and finishes his food. When Erik does come out he offers up a weak smile. “I’m tired. Is there any chance we can go to sleep now?”

Erik looks tired as well. He doesn’t answer, but he does get in the bed and turns to his side. Charles thinks he could probably do some damage to the man with his ceramic plate, but Erik would probably outmaneuver him. It wouldn’t help any to incapacitate one captor when they’re still surrounded by enemies and locked in with the monster.

Since he’s been afforded the freedom, he goes to the bathroom and takes a shower. When he’s done, he dries off and gets in the bed naked. Erik rolls over and wraps an arm around him. Charles is locked in place and Erik is breathing evenly.

Charles tries to go sleep naturally for the first time since he’s been here.

He wakes up to an empty bed and a little note on the opposite pillow.

-          _I apologize for saying rude things about your mother. I know they can be difficult._

_E. L._

 


	21. Moon and Stars

Berlin, Germany September 1963

 

Lucas sits up on his own and grins with three of his new teeth. His hair, dark and feathery wisps, has been brushed and parted on one side. And as his mother once noted, his eyes are still very blue. He grins up at Charles while drippling on the ear of a stuffed rabbit. Charles finds so much peace just looking at his son. It’s almost enough to pretend they were home. They’re on the floor in front of the television while Lucas’s favorite puppet show plays. A mad hatter with a bat abuses a mouse while shouting in German. Charles still doesn’t understand the show’s appeal but Lucas laughs at the screen and looks up at Charles as if to say, “ _Look daddy, this is so funny, laugh!_ ” So Charles obliges. Satisfied, Lucas keeps on teething on the unfortunate toy.

Moira comes in from the kitchen with some applesauce in a bowl. She sits beside Charles and offers him the bowl. Raven is sitting on the floor nearby as well, doing lifts with a set of weights. They’re enjoying the peace and quiet of midday. It’s been two week since the last blowout with Erik. The man disappeared for two days and returned with more gifts for Lucas. Mostly a few new things to chew on, including the rabbit. He even apologized to Moira for calling her a whore. He offered the woman a bouquet of roses and told her, “It’s not your fault you’re human, I know.”

He apologized to Raven in kind, “And you are getting to be quite the brawler Ms. Xavier. I’m impressed.” Raven appeared unimpressed and didn’t accept her bouquet of sunflowers. Apparently she’s tired of yellow.

Charles tried to show Erik his appreciation that night. It went over so well that Erik left early the next morning and came back with more film for the camera, he noted, “For the baby.”

Charles couldn’t bring himself to use the thing. Raven on the other hand has a talent for photography. Angel delivered the first patch of baby pictures this morning. The little family sat around the table and shared laughs and smiles over them. In the middle of what is ongoing terror for the three adults, Lucas has been growing. In most of the pictures he’s smiling with those three new teeth for all he’s worth. In one, he’s naked on his belly just out of the bath and getting powdered. He had just peed on the bed. He’s pink and grinning like he’s been caught doing something he knew was naughty.

Moira and Raven teased all morning. They’re calling it the ‘Charles Francis face’. Charles is secretly happy with that.

Moira teases now, nudging Charles while he looks on confused at the TV. “Charles Francis Xavier, what are you up to now?”

Charles tries not smiles, but he fails. He laughs and leans over to kiss his wife.

For the first time since they’ve been reunited, Moira deepens it and raises a hand to hold him close. Charles sits back with heavy lidded eyes wondering about the moment, but Lucas wants air. He fusses his way down out of Charles’s arms and crawls over to his Aunt Raven.

Seeing his son is newly occupied, Charles tries to reconnect with his wife, but she shrinks away. Moira gets up to sit on the couch. Charles doesn’t think they’ll have another moment like that today. They’ll remain chaste with each other, he thinks, until they’re free. His heart breaks just thinking about it. But then, Lucas is laughing at his Aunt Raven as she makes faces.

Charles is happy that’s he regained control of his body and senses. He’s still reliant on whatever pills the good doctor prescribed to keep his stomach from being upset. Yesterday the dose came down a notch. He can’t describe it but he almost feels like himself. Almost.

He’s still missing one of his primary senses, and without the constant disruption in his mind from drugs, he’s noticing it more and more. Even his vision feels altered. As if there’s black spots where people are supposed to be. It hurts when he looks at his son and for a terrifying moment there’s no one there. Moira had to talk him down a week ago and together they rested with the sleeping baby between them. Charles preoccupied himself counting Lucas’s toes and fingers. He counted the little freckles on his nose. He made it through the afternoon. Erik didn’t bother to come home that night, so he stayed with his family. It was a nice night.

While Charles hopes the continued peace in the apartment will hold, he knows that playing the part Erik wants is grating Raven’s nerves. She’s bulked up enough, he thinks, to take Erik out by herself. All that’s holding them back is knowing what’s beyond the door. She hasn’t the patience to keep waiting. Charles doesn’t need his telepathy to know she’s thinking about revenge almost every minute of the day. He wants to tell in her detail about his plan, but it’s not worth risking it when they know the place is wired.

Moira is working on a new code. Charles thinks it’s brilliant. He watches her test it out, drawing colorful pictures for Lucas with a set of crayons Angel gave her. You’d have to be close to see where the patterns emerge, and familiar with half a dozen code breaking techniques to see it. So far he’s made out, ‘Raven is really down today,’ ‘she cried in the shower,’ and ‘Erik tried to recruit her in the kitchen’.

Charles frowns down at picture of a sunny day in Bastogne, the romantic hill they used to picnic on is dotted with the message that troubles him. He’s racked his brain to figure out why Daniel and Erik went to so much trouble to take Raven and Moira. With the teleporter at their disposal, they could have forcibly taken Charles at any time. According to Erik, he’s seen Charles in person nearly twenty times before this year. Each time he lurked in the shadows and watched. He talks about it like it’s something romantic. Hiding around a bend and spying on the object of his affection. For almost ten years.

It makes Charles’s skin crawl.

Now though, he thinks the intention was always to take both of them. Raven manifested young. Charles use to brag about her and show her pictures to his mates. He probably gave her away without knowing years ago. He still can’t figure out what use they had in taking Moira. Even if Erik thought taking his family hostage was necessary to get him in bed, sadly Charles is not sure why Moira is still alive.

By the end of their quiet day, Charles has started practicing his code as well. By dinner time, Raven looks at them both like they’ve gone nuts. He would tell her otherwise, he thinks, but she can’t read doodle yet.

After dinner, they retire to the guest room. Erik hasn’t returned yet, and Charles wants to stay with his family for as long as possible. He takes the honor of bathing Lucas. When he comes out of the bathroom his shirt is soaked and his hair is covered in soap suds. Moira and Raven laugh at him before taking the baby.

Moira tsks her son while nibbling at his chubby hand, “What have you been up to! Did you wash Daddy’s hair? You naughty thing,” she blows bubbles of air on his belly. The sound of baby laughter fills the little room.

Charles relaxes in the chair as Raven gets up to go shower. His sister is kind enough to throw a towel at him for his hair. He’s smiling sleepily as Moira dresses Lucas. The baby seems to be a ball of energy tonight and there’s no settling him. Charles is glad, it’s completely different from the stillness they were used to from him before. Lucas seems eager to explore everything now. He’s grown chubby and pink and he smiles at everything. Even Erik. He’s only learned to crawl in the last week. Charles wishes he could take a picture of the woman and child in the bed right now. He sighs as his nerves get the better of him. He supposes this whole thing had to affect him somehow, and shuttering his emotion to play Erik is taking a toll on him in other ways.

He jumps in his seat when they hear knocking at the door.

Erik doesn’t open it. He doesn’t give them any orders or separates them. He just lets them know he’s back. Moira eyes tear up, but she quickly wipes them away. “Maybe he’s going to leave you alone. Come on and get ready for bed.” She ignores the metal crib as usual and tucks Lucas under her arm. She holds out a hand for Charles to come join her.

He gets up and goes to her. Sadly, he takes her hand and kisses the knuckles. “I have to see what he wants. I’ll see you in the morning, my love.” He tries to kiss her on the head, but she turns away. Charles can feel a dull pain in his chest like he’s going to fall apart. He pulls himself together and leaves the room and the idyllic little day behind.

Erik is sitting in the living room with the lights off. Charles doesn’t speak. He just goes over to the other man and lays his head in Erik’s lap. Erik is always up to pet him, so he strokes his long fingers through what’s become of Charles’s hair. Charles thinks a good haircut would even it out. He’s used to keeping it short and businesslike, if a bit floppy in front. He caught himself in the mirror a while ago and was annoyed to see a much younger version of himself reflected back.

Erik stays quiet for a time, before shifting to get something from behind the couch. Charles bolts upright as he recognizes it instantly. “Where did you get that?”

Erik hands him a beat up old leather briefcase. Charles already knows the contents of it, because it is his. He left it in his home months ago. The same anger he felt when he was given the camera comes roaring back in, but this time he reins it in. “Where did you get this,” he asks again taking his bag and throwing it on the coffee table.

Erik leans back on the sofa with a resigned expression, “You’re not happy are you? I thought it would help if you had your work here.” He rubs his face with his hands, “But you’re not happy because— what? Because I sent Azazel to that old house? Because I touched your things?” The look he levels on Charles makes the younger man careful with his answer.

“I’m not happy,” he says truthfully. “You broke into my home and stole my things. I’m not happy about that Erik.” He says as calm he can manage, “I’m not happy about a lot of things. This is just a drop in fucking bucket.”

Erik stands up to loom over him now. “And what, my dear, would make you happy. What would please, the Prince Xavier. What could I possibly give to you now, hmm? I told you before…”

Charles finally snaps and stands up, “You told me before! You told me this is a ‘modern relationship’ with consideration and thought on both sides. Do you consider me at all when you robbing me or fucking me? How much more consideration do I owe you, Erik?!” He stomps off towards the door and points, “What about that!” He slaps the metal door with his hand. “What about this damn door! What about fresh air! What about sunlight! I can hardly tell what’s real anymore in here!”

Erik frowns and crosses over to him Charles lets himself sob into the man’s arms. Erik pets him again. Quietly he asks, “Is that all? You want to go outside Charles? No… You want to escape.”

Charles backs away and wipes his nose on his sleeve. He looks up at Erik with red-rimmed eyes. “I have to know that we’re not alone. That I’m not alone. You’re here, my family’s here, but I can’t _see_ anything without my telepathy, Erik. I can’t tell sometimes. I just want to be sure. Sometimes I wake up thinking I’m still on that operating table, that I’ve died and gone to hell. This is hell for me, Erik.” He sinks to his knees and wraps his arms around himself as he lowers his head to the floor.

Erik bends down pulls him up, “Stop that, it’s bad for your knee.”

“What do you fucking care? You had me shot!” He says even as he lets Erik unfold him. They sit stretched out a few feet from the door.

“I was just following orders,” says Erik. “My father wanted you dead. All the officers on a list had to die, and you my little mouse, were making so much noise it got back to him.”

Charles gets up to stand away from Erik and Erik follows him. “I doubt it. Your Father probably just wanted you to stop obsessing over me. It’s not exactly healthy.” Charles goes back to the door and rest his head against the cool metal. “Open the door Erik. Please. Open the fucking door.”

Erik steps behind him and kisses his neck.

Charles opens his eyes and raises his head, “Open this god damn door Erik.”

He feels a huff on the back of his neck. Then, without any fanfare, the door opens.

Charles feels like a bomb just went off beside him. He stares into the darkness ahead of him in shock.

Erik ushers Charles out into a dark hallway. The door behind is loud when Erik shuts and locks it. The thin white corridor ends with an elevator on one side and a door on the other. Erik steers Charles toward the elevator. He presses the up button with a flourish and gives a shallow bow when the door ‘dings’ and opens.

Charles walks in a slight daze, confused and surprised. He almost forgets to gather himself. His family is still locked up in that apartment. Erik stands behind him in the elevator. Charles has time to realize they are going up only two floors. His reflection in the coppery walls of the elevator looks like someone else. A boy with long hair stares forward with eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Charles would almost believe he was dreaming. Perhaps he’s still asleep in a chair with a towel on his head.

The door opens and brings him back to reality. Erik pushes him forward. It’s dark and cold outside. The air bites his skin where his shirt is still damp. They’re on the roof. The whole thing is walled high and Charles can’t make out the city below them. Above them the sky is mostly black. The light from the city cancels out all but the most determined starlight. There’s only a sliver of moon out. The new moon wanes. He marvels at the sight and wonderingly stares up at it, gasping for air in the cold.

Erik doesn’t bother him, except to shroud him in his silk suit jacket. Charles looks behind him to see the man standing there in a thin dress shirt and tie, quietly watching Charles’s every move. Charles turns away. He’s shivering and wraps his arms around his middle. Erik closes the gap between them, plastering his chest to Charles back. Charles lets the man hold him close while he stares up at the stars.

Erik rubs his sides and shoulders, giving him a little warmth. Charles cups his hands in front of his mouth, huffing hot breaths of air to warm them. Erik pulls free one of Charles’s hands.   He lifts it to his mouth and takes a nip out of Charles’s wrist. Charles yanks away and hides his hands under his armpits. “What the hell, Erik,” he says with no real venom.

Erik laughs and kisses him on the side of head before wrapping his arms tight around the smaller man’s shoulder. “What else can I do to make you happy here, Charles? What is it you want from me?” He asks in whisper just above Charles’s ear.

Charles sighs. “Let me go.”

Erik squeezes him hard before loosening his grip altogether, steering Charles back to the elevator.

Erik doesn’t try to use him that night. He holds the younger man close, and dozes off before Charles. Charles lays with his head on Erik’s chest using his memory to rebuild everything he saw. The layout of the roof. They were in the northeast corner of the large building, taking up most of the floor. There was a wide watch tower in the center of the roof and surrounding it was a conservatory. Charles doesn’t know how to get in there, yet. The hallway at the front door was short and bare. There was a little number ‘42’ outside the door. A little metal mail box adhered to the door at eye level. The door’s siding had a keypad near the large lock, but Erik didn’t bother with it.

Charles sleeps after evaluating everything in his memory a few more times to look for vulnerabilities. He sleeps deeply until morning when he wakes up to find a new suit laid out on the bed.

He gets up and gets dress quickly.

Out in the living room Moira and Raven are already up. They’re wearing coats over their dresses and Lucas is wrapped up in Raven’s arms.

Erik beams at them from the doorway. There, Angel stands with a new baby carriage. “Charles you’re up. Come on, we’re all going out for breakfast.” He smiles likes this happens every day. Charles walks over to him carefully, inspecting the pram and looking at Angel to gauge if this is some sort of trick. The girl is no help and Erik keeps smiling with all his teeth. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out three metal bands. “One little precaution, you understand.” He moves to take Charles’s wrist but the younger man yanks away.

Charles steps back tries to assess the situation before him, “You want us all to go out the door? Together?”

Erik’s smile falters before returning with megawatt glory. He floats a silvery band to Charles without any input, he makes it slink and seal around Charles’s wrist. “Isn’t that what you wanted, Charles? I’m trying to oblige. Besides, I’m tired of cooking every morning. There’s this great little bistro around the corner. It’s a short walk. I thought you’d enjoy it.”

Charles looks back at his family to confirm what he’s seeing. Moira and Raven hang back and stare like Erik’s grown a second head. Good, he thinks, he’s not going crazy.

Erik floats the other bands to the women and snaps them as well. He carefully takes two fingers to fingers to pull a forth band made of copper out. “This is one is very soft,” He says as he walks toward Moira. Charles follows him and starts to argue that he will not have his son branded, but Moira beats him to it and looks Erik in the eye. “That’s not necessary,” she says. “Lucas is hardly in the position to walk away.”

Erik puts on his civil mask, and addresses solely Moira. “You’ll have to be marked,” he says taking a red pen from his pocket, “Just an ‘H’ somewhere on your person. It’s the law for any human still residing in the capitol. As such, it makes you a target. I would think you’d appreciate the fact that I can better track all of you among the populace, given the hostility that some of our citizens may show you.”

Moira offers her hand, “I’d appreciate it more if you didn’t mark me at all. But I’ll defer your judgement in this, General Lehnsherr.”

It’s the first time in while one of them called him anything but Erik. Charles is expecting some sort violence to ensue, but Erik keeps up the mask. He quickly takes her hand and marks her with a blocky ‘H’.   Then he floats the copper band to Lucas. Once around the baby’s plump little wrist, Lucas immediately sticks it into his mouth.

Erik leads the family out of the apartment with Angel running ahead of them. They go down the corridor and find there’s an office through the last door. Charles starts to ask about the elevator, but he sees another elevator just beyond the office. Instead he says, “This is where you go all day?”

Angel answers for him, “This is my office. The General commutes between here and Fort Ironclad.”

Raven hangs back and worries Charles for moment. If she thinks that now is the time to attack she’s wrong. He takes her hand and holds it tight. “Be a dear and keep a hold of me, Raven. I hate to get lost in this place, before I know where I’m going,” he says looking her in the eye. She frowns at him but takes his hand anyway.

Charles knows Moira is threat-assessing their surroundings as they enter the elevator. He himself noted that Angel wasn’t alone in the office space. There’s been times where he’s heard ‘Janos’ on the intercom, but he’s never seen man. So he assumes the other guard dog is there somewhere. For all of Angel’s diminutive stature and sunny disposition, Charles knows she’s a high ranking operative, guarding the personal home of Magneto. He expects her to be dangerous as well, but can’t explain that to Raven.

They all crowd inside the elevator. Erik stands to the back and lets Angel stand in front of the family, pressing a button for the ground floor. Charles holds his breath hoping nothing goes wrong.   Lucas lets out very loud burp. He clearly has no idea no how important this is.

When the doors reopen, the tense little party exits into airy lobby. Charles notes that there is mostly military personnel moving about. There are some people dressed casually, but they’re all clearly armed with holsters as well. Some of them look at Erik and the family in surprise. A few even go for the weapons. Of course, Charles thinks, all of these soldiers know who they are. That means simply walking out the front door was never option.

Angel waves them off from the front doors. And with that, the Xavier family is finally free. Somewhat.

Erik directs Moira to put the baby in his expensive new carriage but she declines. He hands the thing over to Raven and takes Charles by the hand.   “Come on then. The Great Sausage House is this way,” he says lightly as he leads them out the door. The building takes up the entire block, and there’s a high metal fence around it. Erik opens the front gate with a wave of his hand leads them on short walk up the street.

Before noon that day, Charles and his family has eaten a hardy breakfast served by a woman who probably spit on Moira’s food. They’ve walked around to a small park and where she held her son close even when catcalled and insulted by random pedestrians. At one point a young man tries to throw can at them, but Erik deflects it and gives the boy a stern look.

Lucas enjoyed his first day at a playground. Erik cleared it out with the short command of, “Get out,” that sent the common people scurrying to make room from Charles’s son.

Sitting on a bench nearby, Charles and Erik watch as Lucas laughs and crawls in the grass. Moira takes him up to push him down a slide. Erik is relaxed, still holding onto Charles’s hand. Charles feels tense and barely conceals his desire to be elsewhere.

Charles looks at Erik before finally pulling his hand free. “Can I go to them, please?”

Erik folds his hands in lap. He’s looking at everything but Charles, “Go on then, if it makes you happy.”

Charles doesn’t hesitate to run away.


	22. Men in Spectacles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *21 Year old Charles is a ho- a straight up ho

Seoul, Korea July 1957

 

The Allied Forces effort in Korea was a mess before Charles got here, he thinks.

“What would you have done without me? Hmm?”

He asks from under the bed of his hotel room. He had to scuttle under the thing to find a spider of unimaginable proportions. Just as he finds the thing, he decides it’s too big to kill. He smirks, clapping his hands around the menacing villain.

He scurries back up to the side of the bed, where his company for the night sits in the center of the king-sized bed. Three sisters he happened upon after celebrating his new appointment and recent promotion to Captain Charles Xavier. The girls were already celebrating their own accomplishments. He suggested they make it a private party.

The women on the bed wearing only short silk robes are restless, “Did you find it, Charlie-boy,” asks the eldest. “Did you kill it?” Ask the youngest. “Go and kill it! Be a man,” says the in-between sister.

Charles decides then to open his hands, and to his surprise the screaming women attack him.

He is knocked to the floor as they try to stamp and swat the arachnid. When the youngest one confirms, “GOT IT!” They all back down and leave Charles in a heap on the floor. Charles looks up at the ceiling. This is not how he pictured his first orgy. Still. The young women are lovely. He thinks he makes a fine figure of a young man at 21 years old. Women, including this sisters, are always telling him how ‘cute he looks. Charles reasoning is heightened, he thinks. All the beer and liquor and food he’s had today didn’t affect his judgment at all. He reason now that if they can’t kiss and make up after a little spider fright, he’s not doing things right.

He sits up to try and restart the evening but there’s a knock on the door. The girls all scatter in different directions. He pulls the curtain back on the middle sister, “Why are you all hiding?”

“If our grandmother catches us out again, she said she’s going to cut off our hair, cook our pet chicken and throw away our text books!”

“That’s horrible,” Charles says, worried for them. They’re really very nice girls. Math students who helped crack a code for the air force last month that helped to end the civil war. They’ll be national heroes when it all goes public. Charles is happy his clumsy attempt to woo each sister individually blossomed into what he hoped would be a really memorably night.

So an angry grandmother at the door unsettles his stomach.

Reaching out with his powers he feels a familiar mind. He sighs and takes the middle sister by the hand. “I’m afraid I have to call it a night, ladies. My new nanny is here.”

They all whine. “Not the bug-eyed one!” Says the eldest sister, referring to Whitehall. The young women move to get dressed and Charles goes to slip out the door and give them privacy. Daniel stands away from the door while Charles steps through and closes it. He then buttons his shirt and zips his pants.

“Charming, Xavier as usual,” says the man as he pushes his glasses up his nose. “I thought I’d find you in this den of inequity. Already spending your bonus?”

Charles scoffs, “I do not pay for sex, Daniel. Unlike some people,” he pointedly looks Daniel up and down. “There’s not a woman on this planet immune to my charms. I have a great… intellect.”

Daniel laughs, “I’ll take your word for it, Captain Casanova. Come on, we need you back at the base. They’re still cleaning up after that party you threw in the mess. Then you need to oversee that scouting operation in the hills. Recovery of those crashed planes is paramount.” He actually pulls out a notepad, “You have a meeting tomorrow morning with General Arlington, and she requests that you _not_ sleep with her new assistant. No worries there, I think.”

Charles moves to the side as his three lady friends exit. They each give him a kiss goodbye as they go. He brings Daniel inside, and closes the door. “Arlington’s assistant? Oh yes, Diana! Great girl, how is she? Marvelous smile. Fantastic mutation, she had super strength, and I swear I could not tell a lie around her.”

Daniel checks the bed before sitting on it. “Right. Well she’s been sent elsewhere.”

“Too bad,” he says sadly for second, perking back up to ask, “Is the new girl blonde?”

Daniel sighs and stands up, offering a mock salute, “The new girl, sir, is Herbert.”

Charles visibly cringes, “As you were.” He looks around for his uniform and only finds his cap. He shrugs and throws that on his head and pulls on a dark blue sweater. “Well, off to camp my friend.” He actually skips out the door. He imagines this is what having an older brother is supposed to be like. He can feel something like exasperation and fondness wafting off Daniel’s mind. He stops walking to face the man. He’s only known Daniel since he came to Seoul, though he’s been in Korea with the Allied Forces for about 19 months. Daniel’s been shadowing him as an unofficial second since he pulled the man from a truck crash earlier this month.

“First let’s get a drink,” Charles throws an arm around Daniel’s shoulder. The man sighs again, so Charles pats him the back, “Don’t worry. I’m buying.”

The next day goes well for Charles. He lets Daniel follow him around without any official orders and actually gets some work done. He helps plan a strategy to recover the downed planes. He helps clean up the mess he made in the mess. He goes back into town to track down the ‘Triumphant Triplets’ as command is referring to his lady friends. Only the middle sister, Eun is there.

“Where’s your sisters?” He asks after she quickly runs out the house and pushes him back into his car. She jumps in the driver’s seat, “They’re at movies with grandma. I told her I was too sick to go.” She grins from ear to ear.

Charles smiles back, “And are you feeling better now?”

She starts the car and peels out into the street, “I feel great!”

The girl takes Charles to a seedier neighborhood. Charles wouldn’t come down here or bring an attractive young lady here on his own. Especially when he sees an American soldier getting a handjob from a young boy in the alley. He starts to take the girl back, but she insists, “This way. There’s a free room in a bar up here. It can just be you and me…” she kisses him and pulls him along.

Charles is still uncomfortable with their surroundings but he follows the young siren anyway. After climbing a rickety ladder, they enter a surprisingly opulent room. Dark wood furniture and a giant bed looks really out of place. “Did you bring me to brothel?”

Eun laughs in his face, “This use to be the house of some official, but it’s been ransacked over the years. The new owner made the first floor a bar and she rents out this room. I paid her earlier for the whole week.”

Charles pushes her on the bed, “That’s presumptuous of you. How’d you know I’d come back.”

“I wasn’t looking for you,” she smiles cheekily and climbs up the bed. The girl spreads her legs and crooks a finger at Charles. Charles makes a sound at the back of his throat he doesn’t recognize. Then of course, there’s a knock at the door. He moans, “Who the bloody hell is it this time!”

His siren laughs and falls back onto the sheets. Charles considers the knocking door and girl in front of him. He jumps on the bed and kisses exactly between her legs, “You stay here,” he says leaning down to suck and mouth on the girl through her silk underwear.

“I’ll be right back”, he says addressing the wet center of her panties. Eun erupts into laughter as he gets up to leave her.

At the door is Daniel.

Charles slams the door shut. He squeezes his eyes shut, “For fuck’s sake, man.” When he opens them he looks back at the half naked girl on the bed and decides to speak to Daniel outside. He closes the door behind him and pushes Daniel back. “Seriously! Are you following me?!”

Daniel looks surprised to him, “What are you doing here?”

Charles frowns, “I think you know perfectly well what I’m doing here. What the hell are you doing here?!” He stands up to full height and stares hard at Daniel. “It’s one thing keeping up with my affairs, my friend. It’s another thing to interrupt them. Again!”

Daniel frowns now, “Your affairs? I was told to come here today. Eun invited me.”

Charles feels shocked and a little betrayed, “That little minx! I ought to tell her grandmother!”

Daniel follows him as he bellows back into the room. They both stop as they notice Eun in the bed. The girl staring off in the distance with her mouth agape. Her neck is bent unnaturally and she’s completely still. Charles falls to the floor. “Oh my god!”

Daniel pulls him up, “Charles. What in god names happened here?!”

Charles clutches the other man, “I don’t know. She… was alright. We were just …. She was alright when I went to the door. It was just moment. My god, it was just a moment!” He sobs before looking at the open window. “There! We came in there! Anyone could…,” he runs to the window and looks down. Whoever came into the room is gone, but he might find them. He reaches out with his powers looking for a killer. He finds gamblers, whores, soldiers, and desperate people. None of them have been up to the room. He climbs out of the window as quickly as he can manage. Daniel calls after him, “Charles, they’ll be witnesses that place you here, come back! We have to straighten this out!”

Charles jumps off the ladder and lands in the alley. He looks up at the window. “I have to bring whoever did this to justice. Call an ambulance!”

He runs off, scanning in every direction.

He searches for half an hour for either the culprit or a witness and comes up empty. A sudden downpour stops his pursuit. Charles huddles for shelter under a torn shop awning, he barely pays any attention to the tall man beside him. The man is wearing a hat and thick coat and has scarf covering his face. Charles gives up his search and slides down the wall of the shop.

“Lost your way?” says the man in a rough Irish accent.

Charles doesn’t bother to look up. “I lost a friend. I was careless and it’s all my fault.” He starts crying is glad the man can’t seem to care about his problems. He wipes his nose and stands up, shaking in the cold rain. “Have you a cigarette?” He asks the stranger.

The man shakes his head no, and Charles realizes he can’t see anything from his mind. He gives the man a closer look, and finds nothing outwardly suspicious about the stranger. Still he asks, “What brings you to Korea?”

The man reaches into his pocket pulls out a wad of money. “The boys.”

Charles flinches as the implication. He’s disgusted with the stranger and turns to leave the way he came. The man calls out after him. “How about you, eh? How much for a night?”

Charles turns around quickly to flip the man off before heading back to the room where Eun lies dead.

Daniel is Charles’s only witness. Daniel takes him in for questioning and General Arlington quickly finds another telepath to scan and confirm and his version of events. He’s fortunate to be absolved of any wrongdoing within days, the incident will not blemish his personal record.

Walking among other men in his new command he hears the occasional whisper, as some men don’t trust a telepath. They think he’s gotten away with murder. Some men think he’s always looked too innocent. Of course he’s guilty. He puts off drinking and bedding the locals to concentrate full time on his work. He buries himself in it. He tries to forget anything ever happened. His perfect eidetic memory can recall the whole day he spent with Eun, but there’s not a single clue as to who killed her.


	23. The Glass Rook Club

Berlin, Germany September 1963

The bath water is hot, the way Charles like it. He lingers there hoping for few more minutes to himself. Moira startles him when she comes in through Erik’s bedroom. She’s wearing a sporty blue dress that looks more appropriate for someone Raven’s age. He smiles at her, “That’s a new look. I can’t say I approve. Take it off.” He smirks and sits up in the tub, teasing his wife

Her skin ripples and Charles is sent into hysterics, flapping and splashing in the water. Raven laughs and points at her brother, “That just made my day.”

“Fuck off, Raven,” he says as he throws his bar of soap at her.

She leaves still laughing and Charles relaxes in the tub.

There’s been many daytrips since that first day at the park. They’ve had a picnic on the roof, lunch at an upscale restaurant and a private viewing of ‘The Great Escape.’ Erik laughed through the whole thing. He has a wonderful sense of humor, Charles thinks as he sags in the bathtub. During the picnic they learned that Erik designed the rooftop to hold the large garden so that it could always pump in fresh oxygen to five of the floors below. He didn’t expand on why he thought this was necessary, just that the watchtower in the center could see clearly across the city, just in case.

Charles checked off, ‘Paranoid’ on his list of Reasons Erik is a Psychopath.

He and Moira kept up a steady dialogue via spy doodle. He’s explained the main hope for his plan is to damage his implants. She noted the other soldiers and guards in the building don’t wear the helmets either. They really could make it out if he was fully recovered. The problem being, when to act. Yesterday as the good Dr. Annaud came to visit, he again trimmed some hair over Charles’s temples. He waved a device around and curtly told Erik, “Project is stable. Proceed.”

Charles is certain that his brain is being monitored by the creepy hobbit, but he’s not sure how or when. So finding a time to remove the inhibitors is one hurdle. The other is removing them. Charles had some basic medic training, but that’s all. He’s not a surgeon and not certain he’ll survive removing the metals wire from where they’re all grafted to his skull. Moira maintains that she will be able to do so with enough practice. Dinner has become a tense time. If Erik isn’t present, Charles tries to instruct Moira on how best to make an incision practicing on chicken and beef. After dinner he shows her the best kind stitch to close a wound. They practice on one of her nightgowns. Raven seems to understand that this is part of bigger picture, finally behaving yourself. Or at least she hasn’t threatened Erik to his face lately.

Erik lets it slip that Azazel is interested in Raven. Not like Creed or any of the thugs that assaulted and raped her, but Azazel sees potential. He’s asked repeatedly for rights to train Raven to use her mutation as an operative for Shaw.

Erik sighs whenever he mentions this, “But I made a promise to you. I won’t break it now. Unless you break yours.”

Charles doesn’t think killing Erik would work, because they’re being spied on by Angel. Charles is certain the winged girl would fly in to rescue her General if he was downed in his own apartment. Exploiting the freedom recently obtained is the only option they have. Besides, the numerous jaunts out to the city has confirmed that the door only opens for Erik. The gates only open for Erik. Charles has yet to master any control over inanimate objects so he’ll have to puppet a living, breathing Erik for the escape to work.

The plan is to move forward after tonight.

Erik is apparently the owner of a new club. He wants to go tonight and has asked Angel to babysit. Charles, in a show of good faith, has agreed.

Charles gets out of the bath. In the mirror he realizes his hair is too long for his tastes, and slicks it back only to find hair falling in his face. He ties it off with rubber band and goes into the bedroom he now really shares with Erik. He frowns at the clothes laid out for him on the new blue sheets.

He gets dressed, and wishes for the millionth time that Erik wasn’t a fan of modern fashion or whatever this is supposed to be. Who would have imagined the malignant, murderous, bastard would subscribe to Vogue?

Parting from Lucas was difficult for everyone. Lucas cried and started pulling Angel’s hair. Erik hurried to close the door on the scene as he escorted Charles and his family out the door.

One half hour later, they find themselves seated in Erik’s private VIP box. It’s all glass, as the club is called The Glass Rook, and there’s an annoyingly prevalent chess motif. Erik smiled at everyone he met as they entered. Some people looked shock to see a human in his entourage. Others were more openly appraising of the two beautiful woman. He kept a hand around Charles’s waist leaving no question as to who his date was.

After being served drinks, Erik took Charles to see his new office. He was very subtle leading the younger man to the back room while the women stayed at the table.

“This,” he says with his body plastered behind Charles at the desk, “Is all very temporary. I’m thinking I’ll have it changed.” He nuzzles behind Charles’s ear. Charles notes the room is like the rest of club. What his mother would call ‘Tacky with a Capital T’. There’s thick black carpet, checkered lamps, and the desk is white on one side, black on the other. A giant mirror is embedded in the wall behind the desk. It’s ugly, Charles thinks. So he ignores the room. He wishes he were anywhere else.

But he has a plan and to act on it, he has to make sure Erik has his guard down.

Erik is single-minded, focused solely on preparing Charles for a romp in the new office. Charles moans and lets Erik stick two fingers of one hand into his mouth. He leads the other hand to his own crotch where he’s getting harder himself. Erik was hard when they left the table under the pretense of seeing the office. Charles stops suddenly and turns around in Erik’s arms, pushing the man away.

“Wait. I can’t do this here! What about Raven and Moira? Are you sure they’re safe out there?”

Erik rolls his eyes. He dismisses Charles worry, “They’re fine. I have people keeping an eye on them. No one will bother them at that table. And they haven’t any reason to leave it.” He tries kissing him, but Charles backs away.

“What if one of them has to go the ladies room?”

Erik laughs, “Charles. My sweet, sweet boy.” He leans in and kisses Charles on the nose. “All is good, alright? Let’s just enjoy ourselves in the new office.”

Charles evades him again to go behind the desk. He opens a bottle of scotch and fills two shot glasses. “Let’s play a game first.”

“Charles,” says Erik impatiently.

“Loser has to do the dishes for a week,” he starts even as Erik circles around to him and takes the bottle. “Winner gets to top on this desk.”

Erik’s eyes narrow at the challenge, “No contest, little mouse.”

“Really,” says Charles arrogantly. “I think there is one. Starting now, you’re up against one of Oxford’s finest. Never met my match. Not once.” He downs his first shot. “I think it might a secondary mutation, you know. Higher metabolism or something. I never checked.” He looks truly thoughtful for a second and that amuses Erik.

It’s enough to prod Erik along, as the man follows Charles shot for shot. When the bottle is empty, Charles pretends to stumble around the desk to the couch in the corner of the office. He lays back, and counts the seconds it takes Erik to come over. Almost 30 seconds later, Erik starts to walk.

Erik is slower than usual, but that could be anything. His normal grace is a little stilted but he doesn’t seem inebriated yet. Charles plans to fix that with a workout. He lets out a laugh as Erik flops down on top of him. Charles wantonly spreads his legs. “Oi. I said the desk. And I think I’m the winner.”

“No chance,” says Erik before kissing Charles. He kisses a line from Charles mouth to his ear and down his neck. “Unless.” He backs off.   “Do you mean it? Would you want that from me, Charles?” He looks hopeful, or rather like someone desperately trying not to look hopeful.

Charles rather not think about what he’d do with the chance to fuck Erik. He gets up and ignores the question. “The desk it is then. I’ll get myself ready, being the loser and all.” He strips out of blue jacket and his white frilly shirt. He kicks the offensive shirt across the room which elicits a laugh from Erik. He believes they’re going in the right direction now. He toes off his shoes and pulls down his pants and underwear in one go. He’s so used to submitting now, he doesn’t think of anything as he bends over the desk.

Erik hums in appreciation from behind him. The man strips off his jacket and shirt as well, and unzips his pants. He lets his cock hang out and nudge judge between Charles’s cheeks. Erik is surprised to find Charles already stretched and wet. “What were you up to earlier,” he says sliding a finger in easily.

Charles shudders as the intruding finger knows exactly how to stroke him now. “You said this was your ‘first private enterprise acquisition’.” Erik had looked so this morning when he told Charles the news. “I thought we might be celebrating tonight. So I prepared.”

Erik slides in a second finger, “Prepared for what?” He glides his free hand up and down Charles’s back. He stops at his neck and pulls free the tight pigtail. “Have you any idea what it does to me, when I see you like this Charles?” He pulls his fingers out and turns Charles over.

They kiss and Charles wraps his arms around Erik’s neck and lets the other man lift him up. Erik pulls away to take up Charles’s good leg, wrapping it around his waist as he lines up with the stretched hole. He sinks in with a soft smile, kisses Charles on the lips with his eyes open.

Charles has to force himself not to close his eyes. He keeps them open, knowing that Erik prefers it. He pulls Erik closer and beckons him, “Come on, Erik. Go on, and give me what I want.”

Erik smiles even wider, “You want this Charles? Truly?” He starts moving his hips, slowly. It’s a teasing feeling of the head just breaching, and barely moving in. It makes Charles squirm as he gets harder.

“Please, Erik. Please,” he says breathlessly letting his head fall back as he tries to impale himself on Erik’s cock. Erik holds him off as he keeps teasing. He pulls out entirely and bites Charles on the neck. He sucks and licks at the skin until he’s satisfied with the darkening mark he’s made. Charles tries to reach down and pump his own cock, but Erik moves his hand.

“Be still, or I won’t let you finish,” he warns as he takes Charles’s hands and guide them over his neck. “Stay just like that. Hold on to me.”

Charles nods and takes a deep breath. Erik finally starts to fuck him. After a few enthusiastic thrusts, Charles starts keening and moving with him. He disobeys the order so he can grab handfuls of Erik’s hair. Erik doesn’t seem to mind this, he smiles with all his teeth again and keeps going. Erik pulls Charles’s good leg up higher and pushes him down on the desk. Charles ends up with his head tipping over the edge, staring at the reflection in the mirror. He tugs Erik’s head lower so the man can nip and lick at his nipples as he rams in and out. He closes his eyes, not wanting to see this, and putting away his thoughts as his body responds to whatever it does find enjoyable.

A few minutes of pounding and feeling his head rush with blood, Charles opens his eyes again. Erik has stop paying attention to his neck and chest, so Charles sees himself in the mirror. Red-faced and spread open on the desk. His hands clutch at Erik’s hair. Erik usually stares into eyes or his face while he’s fucking Charles. Sometimes he leans back to watch his cock dives in and out of Charles’s hole. Now though, he’s staring at the mirror. The expression on his face is smug. Charles swallows his fear before looking at the real Erik above him. Erik keeps looking at the mirror.

Charles lets go of Erik’s head, “No… God no.”

Erik face breaks from the smug look to down at Charles. “Not fast enough, Charles? Tell me what you want.” Charles feels sick, the fear of what he suspects renders him mute.

“Charles,” Erik says finally stopping, with his cock fully sheathed. “What’s the matter? You want more lube? Tell me how to make this good for you, like at home.” The man says patronizingly and Charles can’t stand it anymore. Charles tries to push him away, but Erik catches his hands and pins them to the desk.

Charles finally sobs, “You bastard. You fucking shit! Who’s behind that damn glass?!”

Erik smiles again and stops looking at Charles to address the mirror. “I assure you, this is just a hiccup,” he says he starts thrusting again. “He’s usually so much more pliant. Easy to please, our Charles.” He leans down to nip at Charles’s ear before giving him a much hated kiss on the nose.   “Our Charles, is a fighter when it suits him. But most of the time he wants desperately to give in. He even begs for it.”

Charles tries to squirm free even with the cock still driving into his backside. He’s not the weak, drugged pet Erik kept a month ago. He’s Captain Charles Xavier, he thinks. He can topple this man and free himself. Erik has to stop moving his hips to get a proper hold on Charle’s hands. It takes a few tries, but the man manages to finally pin Charles to the desk.

Erik tries to start thrusting again, but Charles works his bad knee in between them. He hits Erik hard and holds back a whimper as the shattered remains of his patella rams into the solid foundation of Erik’s core. In the time it takes Erik to look shock, Charles frees one hand and lands a blow against the man’s temple. He squirms free from the desk, leaving Erik to stand there half naked in the mirror.

Erik scrubs a hand over his bruised face, “That was uncalled for Charles.”

Charles backs away. He’s naked and trying to decide if he should knock Erik out now and dress later, or risk having whoever comes through from the next room catch him bare without Erik to protect him. He hopes it’s not Essex. There could be nothing worse, he thinks than for the infamous vampire of Shaw’s East to find him.

Erik doesn’t give him any more time to worry. He turns off the lights in the office with his powers. The audience on the other side is revealed.

Charles falls to his knees and cries out loud as he sees the one thing he didn’t want to happen.

His wife and sister sit in the next room. There’s several floating guns pointed at them, and the red devil Azazel guards the door. Erik pushes his mussed hair back as he laughs. “Surprise. I didn’t want you to be shy in front of our guests. You’re such a natural screamer when you’re with me, I was afraid you’d try to hide your voice.” He stalks over to Charles and catches the telepath’s hand as it tries to strike him.

Charles snatches his hand back and tries to hide himself. His hands can’t cover his shame so he leans over to sob in the lush carpet. Erik pets him on the back, “Shhh. It’s alright darling. There’s no shame here. I love you and that’s all that matters. Not your acting, not your mewling wife. Just my love for you.” He pulls Charles up by the hair, “And just so you know from on. This changes nothing. We’ll continue to be pleasant to one another. You’ll keep your new freedoms, and your little family. But from now on _they_ know it. It’s not an act with me.”

He pulls Charles closer as the younger man twists and struggles to get away. Charles is almost sitting in Erik’s lap with Erik nuzzling his jaw. Charles tries to stand but Erik bites him on jaw until he stills. “There. See? You’re so beautiful when you’re mine. And now there’s no more questioning. No more sly glances,” he says looking at Moira. “He’s mine. And you’ll never be able to satisfy him as I have. You’re not equipped,” he laughs maniacally.

Charles tries to elbow Erik, but stills again as his hair is yanked harder.

“You think you’ll be able to slip away from me one of these days. She thinks you can all outrun me with a baby in tow. I’ve news for you, my dear.” He shoves Charles down on the carpet. Charles can’t hear anything from the behind the glass, but he sees Moira stands up only to be shoved down by Azazel. Raven snarls at the man before both women go still. All the guns target Raven.

“NO!” Shouts Charles. He raises his hands in surrender. “Alright. You win. You win, Erik. Please.”

Erik lets his gun circle Raven a few times, before settling in their original configuration around both women. Erik licks at Charles’s tear stained face as he pushes him down on the carpet. “Let’s show them,” he says as fondles Charles’s cock. “Let’s show them how perfect we are together.” He lets go only to push Charles on his hands and knees.

“My leg,” cries Charles as pain shoots up and down his leg this from position on the hard floor.

Erik repositions him until he’s flat on the floor, in plain view of the mirror. Charles closes his eyes and tries to cope with his nightmare suddenly turning into something so much worst. Now there’s shame where there use to be resilience. Anguish where there use to be hope. He can’t imagine a brighter future for any of them now. Even if they escaped, even if they were rescued, there’d be no way of undoing this to him and his family. He’ll always be stuck in this moment.

Erik is ready to continue, still hard from earlier whereas Charles can’t even pretend to be physically interested anymore. Erik is so used to fucking a doll he doesn’t comment on the fact that Charles is lying there still with his eyes screwed shut. He strokes Charles’s back as sobs rack the younger man’s body and spreads the cheeks of his ass wide before sinking in. Charles tries to put it out of mind before his heart explodes in his chest.

_“999…”_


	24. Blue Sheets

Berlin, Germany September 1963

Where did it all go wrong, Charles asks himself. He’s out of breathe and it’s difficult to concentrate. It’s been a long few moments, minutes or hours he can’t tell. He may have blacked out from the shock of it all. But then he remembers.

_“341…”_

He started thinking about countdowns, and that led to thinking about endings, and that led to panic because…

_“211…”_

It seemed never ending. Whatever Erik wanted, he could take. And this last thing was— there was no going back now. They could only move forward. He may never be able to look Raven or Moira in the eye, but he still had save them. If they could just work together long enough, he thinks, they might free themselves of this horror.

Erik grunts and stutters above him. A flood of hot semen fills Charles and signals that at least it’s over for now.

Charles continues to lie on the floor, looking now at the ugly desk, avoiding eye contact with his family beyond the mirror. Everything goes white and Charles forgets.

Later, Charles comes to in the bed formerly fitted in red sheets. He must have been in a fugue state. He doesn’t recall standing up, or having Erik dress him. He doesn’t recall how they got home from the club. He assumes it was by car. Raven and Moira have reclaimed the baby. Charles can remember when Erik carried him into the apartment. Raven and Moira were already there. Azazel had brought them back. Charles closed his eyes after a cursory glance to make sure they were all well. When Erik laid him down on the bed, he had to start counting again. Erik was being especially vicious with him now that they were private.

The next morning, Charles woke up and felt Erik nudging in between his legs from behind. That wasn’t unusual. The man was considerate about injury, and avoided it by using his thighs or mouth to get off. Erik panted in his ear and lightly stroked his arms. He avoids the bright red patches on his forearms where he got rug burn. There’s matching scrapes on his thighs and shins. “Are you awake, Charles?”

Charles sighs and turns his face into his pillow. He doesn’t want to hear anything Erik has to say. He wants this morning to be over. He wants to hide from everyone. He wants to go home.

Erik continues now, squeezing the meat of Charles’s thigh hard as he starts to come.

When he’s finally finished he lays heavily on top of Charles and starts to whisper in his ear. “You hate me again, don’t you?”

Charles thinks that’s the most stupid thing he’s ever heard. Erik is trying to bait him, to goad some fire from him again. The man’s already admitted, he likes when Charles fights back, and he likes to shock Charles. He likes to push the younger man to his limits.

Charles lays stills while Erik nips at ears and neck. The limit, Charles thinks, has been met and exceeded. If Erik wants to play with a broken toy, then so be it. Charles quietly vows to himself that he’ll never give anything to this man again.

Erik is hardly deterred. He sits up and slips a hand between Charles legs, squeezing and massaging his own cum into the younger’s skin. Charles is disgusted and would normally squirm away or say something. Instead he lies there, frozen but for his shivering.

Erik sighs again and slaps Charles on the ass, before standing up. He moves around the room and gets dressed, “I’m going to make breakfast. Unless you want to go Ma Belle’s to eat?” He asks, like they can go back to the day before, when he took the family to a bistro. Charles is certain that Erik doesn’t want to leave until he sees what damage he’s done. He wants to see the way Moira and Raven look at Charles when they enter the kitchen. He wants to gloat in front of Moira. Charles is not ready to face that. He rather stay in the bed.

Erik tuts but doesn’t move him. Instead he goes to the closet and pulls out new sheets. “Why don’t you take a bath while I change the sheets? Which color today, hmm? Green… blue? Maybe we could give red another try.”

Since Charles knows the man is deliberately trying to rile him, he gets up and goes to the bathroom.

He starts the shower and stands under the spray for long time before he finally breaks. He cries quietly, with his hands covering his mouth. His body is shaking when he sits down in the tub and lets the water beat at his back and head.

When he comes out the bed is blue.

A long powder blue night shirt is laid out on the bed. Charles dresses and climbs back on his side. He covers his head and sleeps.

Erik allows him to stay in the bed all day. He brings him a plate at breakfast and another at lunch. They both go untouched and Charles feigns sleep whenever the man enters the room.

Erik finally gets fed up with it by dinner. He enters the room with a bowl of beef stew and sits it on the table. He goes over to the bed and asks, “Aren’t you hungry? You’re going to lose weight again if you don’t eat.”

Fine, thinks Charles. The man is obsessed with fattening him up. He rather be skin and bones than be a well fed pet. Erik has reached the end of his patience, however. He leaves the room. When he returns he brandishes the needle kit in front of Charles. “What did I say, Charles.”

Charles scrambles up to the top of the bed, his arms straight at his sides, “No.”

“No? No you don’t want to eat or no you don’t want some medicine?” He unzips the bag and pulls out a new syringe. “All this sleeping isn’t good for you Charles. Perhaps I should have the doctor prescribe something new to bring you up. All I have is sedatives. Maybe cocaine will help you along. I know this transition may be difficult for you, but I want to help you anyway I can.”

Charles grits his teeth and bluffs, “You would rather if I were a drug addict? Fine then. I don’t care anymore.” He sticks his arm for Erik.

Erik throws the kit on the bed, “Damn it, Charles!” He goes to the bed shakes Charles by the shoulders, then fists his hand in the younger man’s hair, pulling until Charles is up on his knees. “This is not what I want! I told you— you will come to the table and we will eat together. So help me, Charles, I am tired of this drama with you! It’s always something with you, always! You’re as bad as my mother use to be.” He tosses Charles back on the bed. “I’ll have to teach you as my Father did… or maybe.” He smiles, “I’ll send them away. All this pretending on your part is an act for that stupid woman. But I see you clearly, Charles.”

Erik goes to the table and pulls out a chair. “Sit.”

Charles rubs the inside of his arm. “I’d like to stay in bed, please.”

Erik breathes harshly through his nose slams the chair down. “Fine. I may as well make use of you there.”

Charles looks away but is already resigned. There’s nothing, he thinks, new or worst that this man can do to him. All that’s left is weathering the storm until an opportunity presents itself. He steels himself but Erik is always so unpredictable. In anyone else it would be admirable.

“Ah, but what about the baby,” says Erik, changing tactics.

Charles looks Erik in the eye, “Don’t you dare…”

“Now its threats. Now I’ve got your attention.” He pulls out the chair again, “Sit. Let’s discuss this.”

Charles gets up woodenly and limps over to the table. Between his knee, the bruises, and scrapes Charles is not sure how’s he able to move around. He manages to perch himself delicately in the offered seat. Erik roughly pushes the chair up to the table. “There,” he says sitting in the opposite chair. “We’re ready to negotiate terms, I think. Have some stew, first. It’s good for you.”

Charles takes a sip and slowly pushes away the bowl. “I’m not hungry.”  


Erik grits his teeth, “We’re not doing this, I said. Must I repeat myself, again?”

Charles blinks slowly, “I’m not hungry. I’m tired. I’m sore. You shamed me in front the only people I care about. You threatened my child. Forgive me if my appetite has left the building, Erik. I’m not hungry.” He admits this in a calm tone, aiming for the civility Erik is always asking for.

Erik doesn’t appreciate it, “You’re not hurt.” He says clearly ignoring the bruises and scrapes he left. “You’re just embarrassed. This will pass. You’ll be better for it now that they know. You’ve been putting on two or three different fronts. You’re a liar and a con, Charles I could tell that from watching you all these years. You would do anything to survive, but I told you I’m not interested in being played with. From now on, this is real. They know it. You know it.”

Charles leans over to take another sip of his soup, but he feels nauseous so he sits back and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “And what is real about this is, Erik? What the hell are you trying to prove? My family knows that you can control me. My family knows I am inclined to act in my own best interest, and being your whore however much I detest it, is something I’m capable of doing.” Even as he says it, he doubts they will easily forgive what they saw through that mirror last night. “What were you hoping for Erik? Did you think raping me in front my wife would make me love you? You’re a monster and I count the seconds until I can kill you myself.”

“Seconds?” Erik stands up to loom over Charles, “You must be at quite a high number.”

Since Charles still refuses to eat, Erik takes the initiative to move the younger man back to the bed. He scoops Charles up bridal style and plops him down in the center of bed. He sits down beside him and straightens out Charles legs and pulls down the hem of the nightshirt. Charles allow the man to pose him. It’s just like when he was drugged to gills, but this time he’s still on his own. Erik changes his mind about the nightshirt, it seems. He starts gliding his hands up and down Charles’s bare thighs. He fingers skim under the hem of the nightshirt at first, before rucking the whole thing up to expose Charles’s naked skin. He hums and continues groping Charles. Brushing his fingertips across the telepath balls and palming his cock. Charles sits and looks unaffected. He remains soft and unmoving.

Erik tries to rile him for a response, “Have I fucked you in a night gown? It seems something out of a regency novel. They always cut to black for the fucking don’t they? I wouldn’t really know, I don’t read anything like that.” He spreads open Charles legs and moves to kneel between. He untucks his own shirt and unzips his pants. “I wouldn’t mind if you read to me. You have the voice for it.”

Charles closes his eyes but Erik pulls his hair. “None of that, Charles. You asked for blue sheets, and you have them. They happen to make your eyes glow.” He kisses Charles on the nose and Charles and has to stop from swinging out at the man. “Ah, there you are, darling,” he says noticing the aborted gesture. “I was starting to think you weren’t coming.”

“Leave me alone, Erik,” whispers Charles. Erik leaves the nightshirt on. He normally prefers Charles to be completely nude. Instead he pulls the thing down to cover Charles’s cock. He gets off the bed and gets completely undressed before kneeling between Charles’s legs again.

He lays Charles flat on the bed and hovers over the smaller man. “Let’s pretend, that this is our first time. You’re my virgin bride, and I’m going to make love to you.” He says with his voice wavering at the end. “But since you’re a virgin, you are a little frightened. Especially since my cock is so big.

Charles huffs out a breath, “Don’t over embellish anything.”

Erik smiles at him, “It’s my fantasy, Charles. I’ll say what I want.” He strokes Charles good leg, spreads it wider before sucking on his own index finger. He lathers it in saliva before rubbing a wet circle around Charles’s hole. “Besides, I have it on good authority that it’s true. Nine out ten of my previous lovers would say I was ‘above average’. Wouldn’t you Charles.” He says it lightly, going for the tone they had in recent weeks. Playful banter. Willing sex. Charles rewarding Erik’s effort to be nice to the family by giving him spectacular blowjobs. Charles playing into his role and being coy and wanton in same the breath. Erik must have enjoyed that even when he knew it wasn’t real.

Charles doesn’t feel up to playing with Erik. He is tired. He is sore. He doesn’t want to think about what another intrusion so soon after the abuse he had last night will do to him. The good doctor might have to leave something for infection or hemorrhoids after his next visit.

Erik makes a face as he tries to insert that finger but can’t. He pulls up to analyze and hums, “You’re still all swollen and puffy, my dear.”

“Hardly virginal I’m afraid,” retorts Charles. Just after he does so, he regrets it.

“You’re so tight right now,” says Erik. He opens his nightstand with his powers out floats the little metallic jar of lubricant. “I’ll go slowly tonight. Just the once. We’ll have a doctor look at you in the morning to be sure you’re all right.” He smiles down like anything he said was reassuring, “And if this were our wedding night, I supposed I’d be trying to get you pregnant. Could you imagine that, Charles?”

“Don’t even joke.” Charles rolls his eyes and prepares himself for pain. If Erik won’t let him close his eyes, he’ll have to settle for staring up at the ceiling. Or counting down again. Maybe he could start at a million, he thinks. Or recite Latin. Perhaps it would help if he ran a movie in his head. The idea of distracting himself this time goes to pot when Erik sticks a slicked up finger into his opening. It’s painful and Charles can’t help but wince.

He whines and Erik kisses his lips, “It’s all right. This is all perfectly natural for the first time,” he says believing his own fantasy. Charles turns away his face as Erik sticks in another finger, then another. He considers the way Charles is tensely curled up and how much force he has to use to get any digits in.

“I know,” he says brilliantly, reaching for his nightstand again. He pulls out the ointment the doctor gave Charles for pain, “We’ll use this. To numb things until it’s bearable.”

Charles frowns at the stupid man.

Erik starts to open the powerful topical anesthetic before he thinks better of it. “Of course it would numb me too would it not?” He looks at Charles. “And you weren’t going to say anything, were you?”

Charles avoids eye contact looking at the table covered in food, “It’s your fantasy, Erik.”

Erik laughs and settles down onto the bed. He pulls Charles close, “Maybe I’ll wait a few days for you to recover. How’s that sound, little mouse?” He turns his head and kisses the top of Charles’s head.

Charles breathes out through his nose, surprised by the man’s reaction.

Every ‘break’ Erik gives him, is another day he could use planning. If Erik leaves the apartment tomorrow he can finally start things along. Erik even left something to help them with the first phase.

Charles doesn’t sleep. Instead he takes the jar of lubricant and circles a finger around the top. He watches Erik’s face. The man is nodding off, but his powers are still very sensitive. He looks like a cat that’s being stroked from head to tail. Erik’s hand palm and twist and in the blue nightshirt. Charles stops and Erik frowns but finally goes to sleep. He starts back up again when he’s sure Erik is unconscious. The metal bender is still aware of all the metal around him, Charles is sure. Charles will have to find a way to distract him in this apartment full of metal things before he frees himself and his family.


	25. The Can Opener

Berlin, Germany September 1963

The next morning Erik makes quick use of him despite saying he would wait. Charles wakes full of Erik’s cock and with the heavy weight of Erik on top of him. He’s doesn’t think there’s been any stretching or care this time. This is was a rushed thing. Erik thrusts in and out in short tight circles. He looks like he just woke up and his eyes are closed as he rests his full weight on Charles from chest to hips. The man probably doesn’t realize he’s choking Charles with one hand tight around his neck.

Charles can remember waking up hard and rolling over to do the same thing to Moira. Only their mornings would turn into laughter and smiles as she either reciprocated or told him bluntly to take care of himself in the shower. There’s no room to breathe, let alone refuse Erik. Erik keeps pumping, barely moving since his cock is fully sheathed in the tight heat of Charles’s channel. He’s at the wrong angle to find Charles’s prostrate so it’s even more unbearable than usual. Erik isn’t being the considerate lover he usually pretends to be. He’s just a rutting animal trying to get off in the early morning.

Erik has his other hand up Charles’s nightshirt. It squeezes his flanks hard, pinch awkwardly at his nipples and the skin on his chest. This is most uncoordinated Erik has ever been, and Charles reasons the man may actually be asleep.

At least Charles can keep his eyes closed. So he does, and waits for Erik to finish.

It’s over soon enough, and Erik seems to doze off on top of him afterwards. Moments later he wakes up and looks down at Charles in surprise. “I thought I was dreaming,” he smiles. Like this would be a dream for Charles. Charles groans as the taller man pulls his softening member out and finally rolls over. Erik stretches. He gets up naked and pads across the room to the bathroom door, stopping to look at Charles. The younger man has rolled over to his side and is gasping for air, the nightshirt he was wearing is sticking to him in sweat.

Almost an hour later, Erik finally leaves the room. “I’ll go and make breakfast. Then I have to settle something downstairs but…” he strokes Charles’s hair back and smiles, “It’ll only a take a moment. We can spend the whole day together. No interruptions.” He gives Charles a light peck on the cheek before going out the door.

Now that Charles is alone he’s takes stock of the situation. He could fly into hysterics, he could cry, he could give up entirely and kill himself. Or, he thinks, he could utilize this information. He doesn’t have the luxury to looks at his own life as it is happening to him, and reflect on his role as a victim of Magneto’s terrorizing. No, he has to think of his son and sister and wife. Picking apart his mind, going with observations instead of feelings, relying on his ability to cope for just a little while longer.

He sees himself back at the club and rehears part of the horrible evening. Erik said they were planning to run away during one of the outings. The man probably set that evening up from the beginning. The man’s sick sense of humor took them to the cinema to see a movie titled “The Great Escape”. This whole thing is some sort joke or game. Erik believes he’s winning. He believes he’s plotted out every move in the future, that the board is his, no matter where Charles moves next. But he doesn’t know the truth. That Charles has let him win matches before. That Charles is willing to sacrifice anything to win at this point. He’s finally ready, he thinks.

Charles sits up in the bed. He’s still sore and bruised. It’s a pain to get his leg to cooperate. He manages to get dressed in a thin blue shirt and cardigan, some dark slacks. He goes to the bathroom and combs his hair, washes his face, and brush his teeth. There’s a black and blue smudge in the mirror where his neck should be, so Charles ignores it to go back to the bedroom. He digs around in Erik’s nightstand. The needle kit is back there, unguarded now that Erik doesn’t bother with it anymore.

He pulls out what he remembers, a white vial of liquid that would instantly put him to sleep on his more brazen days. He fills a syringe and walks out of the bedroom. Just outside of the guest room, he drops the syringe and rolls it under the door with his foot. He taps three times and moves on to the kitchen.

There he waits. Its Moira and Lucas that comes out of the room. Her eyes look watery, but she doesn’t move to pet him or anything. She carries on like it’s a normal morning. Erik’s left plates of food out on the table. She sneers at the plating arrangement. Erik expects Charles to be on one side by himself. Moira sits Lucas in his father’s lap and quickly dumps all the food in the trash bin. She moves back to the counter to the cans of Similac and an oft used can opener.

“Would you like some toast and beans Charles,” she ask while punching a hole in the formula can.

“No,” says Charles. “I think I’d like to order takeout today.”

Moira smiles to herself. She makes a couple bottles before picking up Lucas and leaves the kitchen. Charles is confident she’ll find a way to discreetly inform Raven of their plans.

Charles walks the floor of the kitchen while waiting for the right time. It comes as he finally hears the front door open. He knows it could only be Erik, so he buzzes the intercom. “Angel?”

“Charles? Is something the matter?”

“No,” he says as Erik enters the kitchen, “I was wondering if you’d pick me up something from Ma Belle’s. I’m feeling a bit hungry.”

Angel is quiet on the other side until Erik intercedes, “Go on, Angel. Fetch us all something. A fresh box of donuts as well.”

“Yes sir,” the girl signs off and Erik walks over to Charles at the counter.

Charles idly picks up a can opener, and starts tossing it from hand to hand _._ “I’m not in mood for donuts, Erik. What are you doing back so soon?” He considers the path to the bistro, and the time it takes to order anything, then bring it back. He has to consider that Angel may make use of her mutation and quickly fly there. She may have Azazel transport her in no time. She might have a damn car. Either way, he reasons he has at least fifteen minutes to make this work.

He narrows his eyes at Erik, “Don’t come any closer!”

Erik crowds Charles into the corner and takes the can opener from him. He sets the thing down on the counter, but Charles picks it back up. “Afraid I’m going to use this against you?” He says scratching the tip on Erik’s chest. It has the desired effect, Erik leans into metal believing himself to be no real danger. Charles pushes harder, until Erik has to focus his power on the point to keep it from breaking his skin.

Erik laughs, “Are you planning to do me in before making another bottle Charles?”

Charles sneers, “No. The bottles are already made.” Erik laughs again, leaning in to nuzzle at Charles’s bruised neck.

“I’m sorry, Charles,” he says surprisingly, “I didn’t mean to hurt you this morning. I’m so sorry.” He bites the already tender flesh until Charles is whimpering and pulling away. Erik grabs him by the shoulders to hold him still. “I mean it, Charles. I’m very sorry, for hurting you. I never use to think it would come to this, you know. I hoped…” he risks kissing Charles, and earns a bite on the lip. This amuses him though so he pulls away sucking in his own bloodied bottom lip. “I hoped that we would come to see eye to eye someday. But who knew you would acquire such baggage. Humans and bratty self-important mutants. You and your sister grew up in luxury.”

“Shut up,” Charles tries digging the can opener in further. He’s met with invisible resistance. “You don’t know anything about me, or my sister. You shadowed me for all that time and never learned a damn thing about me!”

Erik considers this, “Is that it then? Are you mad I didn’t say hello sooner? You’re right. So much wasted time.” He misses Charles point completely and starts biting at the younger man’s neck again. Charles is using a great deal of forces to push forward with the can opener. Over Erik’s shoulder he sees the kitchen door crack open. He turns back to Erik, forces the man look him in the eye. Erik doesn’t resist and but he does try to kiss Charles again. Charles has to head-butt him to keep him back.

Erik seems to think this amusing and arousing. The promise of a physical fight with Charles has the man keenly focused on the can opener and all the metal on the counter.

He never sees Raven with the syringe.

Charles huffs as the weight of an unconscious Erik slumps down on top of him. Raven easily pulls the sleeping madman off.

“Now what,” she asks. Charles looks panicked for a moment. “Quickly before, Angel returns.” Together they pull Erik into the bedroom. “Tie him up with the sheets. We’ll deal with him after we escape.”

Raven frowns, “Why not just kill him now?”

“Quiet, we don’t know if anyone is listening. Why are you naked? …Never mind. Moira and I have to act fast. If Angel returns, tell her Erik and I are in the library. We’re not to be disturbed.” He rushes off to the library Moira is already waiting at desk.

She has his razor, bandages, first aid kit, a flathead screwdriver, a hammer and sewing kit spread out. “Lay down, let’s cut your hair on one side, then I need to cut in quickly. I’ve already got that cream you said was in the bedroom.”

Charles lays down on the top of the desk. His hands skim along the top for something to bite down on, and he finds a leathery journal. He grips it with both hands and rests the thing in his mouth. “Alright,” he muffles a cue for Moira to begin.

She quickly shaves the left side over his temple and applies some of the cream. She tests to see if Charles is deaden at all by sticking him with the sewing needle. He barely winces so she takes the razor and slices a clean path following the scar Daniel left.

Charles is still at first. He’s quiet and tensely biting down hard on the leather journal. They can hear Angel and Raven down the hallway. Angel doesn’t sound like she’s just leaving the food. Moira opens the incision washes away the blood with sterile water. Charles can’t stop himself from screaming out, his hands, abandoning the journal to grip her hands. He screams and screams before Raven rushes inside the library.

“Charles,” she says climbing up on the desk and taking his hands. She pins him down with her strength and Moira continues the impromptu surgery. “Angel’s gone. She heard the screaming and assumed it was you and the monster in here. I told her Moira and Lucas were taking a nap.”

Moira manages to reveal some of the wire. She gets the hammer, “Can you hold him with one arm? I need this be open when I break that.”

Raven manages to a get her forearm across his chest, pinning his hands and all down to the desk. She uses her free hand to hold the skin apart. Moira takes the hammer and screwdriver. From what Charles told her, she knows she has disrupt the circuitry of the wires. She positions it and carefully taps. There’s not a dent in the thing. “It’s not broken. Oh god, Charles! It’s not broken.”

He screams out, unable to think and unable to move. Raven’s scales ripple as she gives herself more strength, holding her brother down in the slick bloody mess they’ve made on the desk top.

Moira sobs as she tries again. She washes away the blood with another splash of water, “There, I see it! A break! It worked, Charles!” She grabs the lighter and heats the end of the screwdriver. She presses the hot tip on both sides of the incision before throwing the screwdriver across the room. “Shit, that didn’t work. You’re still bleeding so much Charles.” She starts trying to butterfly stitch the wound close.

Raven has to shake her brother, as his eyes roll in his head. “Stay awake Charles. We need you to stay awake. Please, Charles. Try!”

He screams again until he can’t breathe, and the dry hoarse sound he expels breaks Moira’s heart. She finally finishes and cleans the wound as best she can with antibiotic and alcohol. Who knew the gifts the ‘good’ doctors left behind for their maintenance would be instrumental to their escape. Moira and Raven ease off, moving Charles to the couch while dabbing at the blood and cleaning his face.

Raven starts crying but stops as she hears Lucas. “Oh god, I left him on the floor!”

Moira nods, “He’ll be fine. The most he can do is crawl under the bed.” She leans down to kiss Charles on the forehead. “Are you alright? Charles say something… please. Are you going to be alright?”

Charles swallows and Raven smears some more of the pain cream around the wound while Moira gets up to dig through the needle kit. “Was one of these for pain?”

Charles manages a weak nod, “There’s morphine or something like it. It makes me too tired to work though. I’ll never manage to get control of my powers if I’m drugged.”

Moira frowns and puts it away. “It’ll have to be aspirin then. Here, drink this.” She slips a pill in his mouth and follows it with a glass of water to his lips. “Do you feel anything yet? Did it really work?”  


Raven looks hides her face in his necks and cries. “This is what you two were planning? Fuck, Moira. I didn’t know… I didn’t know we had to hurt him.”

Charles reaches up to weakly pat her head, “Hush, love. I’m alright.”

_“Hush, love. I’m alright.” Raven cries his neck and Charles sees his himself as he was at age twelve, when a three year old Raven visited him in the hospital. His mother left Kurt Marko shortly after, but Raven never forgave her father or Cain for hurting her ‘real’ big brother._

Raven pulls away, “Charles was that you? From right after the stairs!”

He smiles, “I always knew I was your favorite.”

Moira sighs, “You’re power must be coming back. I don’t know what the hell you two are talking about.” She smiles wearily. “I’ll go get Lucas off the floor. He’s yelling his head off in there.”

She gets up on unsteady legs and leaves the Xavier siblings on couch. Raven feels waves of thought and feeling from her brother.

Charles is in immeasurable pain.

Charles is unbelievably happy.


	26. Standing Ovation

Berlin, Germany September 1963

 

_Charles swings a pink and blonde baby around in is arms. “Put that monster away Charles,” says Sharon. Raven was born with a physical mutation. Sharon had screamed at the sight and shut herself away for days. Kurt Marko wasn’t present for the birth, having recently started a two year sentence in prison for tax fraud. Charles was only nine years old. But he had the honor of naming his new little sister. Raven Leslie Xavier. After days of being fed by a bottle, Raven’s true gift emerged. She changed into a pink and blonde baby, a miniature of Sharon Xavier. Charles has always thought her real power exemplified the true meaning of mutation. Survive no matter what._

Charles pats Raven on the head while they wait on Moira and Lucas. She changed back to the blonde, blue eyed girl he last saw in New York. “Well hello there, stranger.”

She smiles, “This is hardly the real me.”

He winces as the pain in his skull thrums, but having his powers back helps. He’s able to focus mentally on rebuilding the world he maintains in the astral plain. He’s using Raven now to hone his gift back into the sharp, precise thing it used to be. He pats her on head, “Every you is the real you.”

She snorts a laughs, “You’re such a dork. Hey— can you reach Moira yet? Can you see anyone else?”

_He closes his eyes. He sees Moira from behind, as she gathers up Lucas in the living room. The baby must have made it out of the guest room. She starts to turn only to—_

“RAVEN! He’s free!”

Raven leaves him at once to rush down the hall. Erik is standing at the end of it with Moira in a headlock. Lucas squirms in her arms and sharp pieces of metal circles around them. Erik yells, “What did you do to Charles?!”

Raven’s skin ripples, and Charles follows her mind as she thinks of the best way to take down Erik and save Moira and Lucas. The end of her attack has a killing blow. “ _No, Raven. We need him alive.”_

Raven tries to shake him out, but Charles persists, “ _Bring him to me. I have to touch him to control him completely. He’s been trained to keep out psychics. He’s built up walls around his mind. I can barely look through his eyes. Hurry, Raven.”_

Raven hesitates for a second before making up her mind. “Let them go. You owe me a fight, Lehnsherr.”

Erik smiles at her with a bloody grin. Moira must have landed a head-butt before he got a hold of her. “You must be very light on your feet, Ms. Xavier. I didn’t even hear you come in kitchen.” He throws Moira to the floor, and she barely catches herself and Lucas before they land in a heap. Erik spits at them both, “Stay down. I’ll be back to deal with you shortly.” He stalks over to Raven and lashes out at her. His swing is wild and Raven realizes the drug wore off, but it’s still affecting his normal grace.

She feints away and backs up into the library. Erik stumbles before he sees Charles lying prone on the couch. “You,” he says looking lost. He looks back at Raven, roars and tackles her down to the floor. She kicks and swings and her legs out from under him. Flipping over, she reverses their positions and manages to wrap her legs around his neck. Erik is unable to break from the hold, so he scrabbles for his power, and throws a letter opener from the desk at her. It veers off wide and Erik eyes bug out. “What was that?”

Raven kicks him in the chest with the heel of right foot and rolls them over to the couch. She extends one of Erik’s arms over his head. They’re both directly under Charles. Charles reaches out to weakly grip Erik’s hand. It’s enough.

_“Mama I don’t like this woman. She’s a nasty teacher. Tell Father to make her go away.”_

Charles shutters Erik’s thoughts. He’s not interested in whatever sad childhood this man experienced. Instead, he takes control of everything else.

Erik stops fighting Raven’s hold. “Let him up, Raven.” She releases him just as Moira and Lucas appear in the doorway.

Charles has to raise his fingers to his temple, _“Pick me up. Moving about on my power is little much right now.”_

Erik obeys. It’s not the easy job he had before when Charles was several pounds lighter. Still with his considerable strength he manages. Moira gets the baby carriage and loads it with food. “We’ll just go out the door like it’s a normal day. Have him tell everyone we’re going on a picnic or something.”

Raven shifts into white dress. “That feels so much better.”

Charles frowns from Erik’s arms, “You’re still naked.”

Moira grabs bandages and wraps for Charles head, ignoring Erik as he stands like statue. “Now is not the time to worry about your naked sister, Charles. We’re going home.”

He smiles and kisses her. Happy to do so in front of Erik and know there’s nothing the man can do about it. She kisses him back, feeling the same way. Lucas gums on his rabbit, uninterested in the whole affair. Charles sees his son mind for the first time. The baby’s thoughts are mostly about his mother and food right now. Bright colors, and the sound of his father’s voice make him happy. Charles almost cries but he has to maintain a firm grip on Erik’s mind. When Moira and Raven finish packing, they hunt though Charles wardrobe for something to put on his head. Raven takes Erik’s hat down from by the door, “What about this.”

Charles can feel a wave of relief from Erik, “No I’d rather not.” He instructs Erik to take them to the closet. Since they’ve been going out, Charles’s wardrobe now includes several stylish homburgs, fedoras, caps, and even a top hat. So of course Raven’s sticks a feathery Tyrolean on his head.

Charles would roll his eyes but that would hurt and there’s no time to argue. They separate as Moira goes to change into something less bloody. Raven helps Erik and Charles change as well.

They meet back at the front door. Charles instructs Erik to open it. They quickly make their way down the corridor to Angel’s office. When Angel stands up to greet them, she questions, “Why are you carrying him, sir?”

Erik mechanically answers, “I hurt his leg.” Charles can see Angel fighting off her own imagination. “But we’re going out not to make up for it. Aren’t we Charles?”

Charles leans into Erik’s chest. He waves off Angel’s interest in the bloody bandages and the bruised neck with his powers. Directs her to look at the silly hat instead. “I’m alright. I just want to sit outside in the sun. Perhaps go for a drive.” He peeks through Erik’s thoughts. Erik’s Ford Rhineland is in the parking garage. He decides that’s should be the getaway car. Erik uses his power to maneuver the vehicle from memory. By the time they get to the ground floor, the car is at the front doors.

Charles uses his power to keep them unnoticed as they all pass by the soldiers. Raven and Moira are nervous but steadily move along ahead of Erik and Charles. Moira is clutching Lucas to her chest and Raven is pushing along the carriage.

They make it all to the car when they are first really spotted.

A mutant with the power to control illusions sees through Charles’s masks. He actually confronts them, “What the hell is going on here, sir?” He puts a hand to his holster and some other soldiers start to take notice. Charles can think of only one thing to keep the man from ruining things.

Erik opens and closes the doors after Raven and Moira get in. Charles wraps his arms around the man’s neck as Erik turns to address the vigilant young officer, “I was a bit rough with my pet this morning. How is this any of your business?”

The officer turns beat red, “Sir, something not right!”

Erik takes the man’s gun from his holster and floats over to hover in front of him. He fires once and the man drops to the ground. The soldiers milling around really take interest in the proceedings now but Erik dismisses them, “I will not tolerate being question by my own subordinates. Understood!” Charles commands Erik to give his most threatening look. It must work, as two underlings rush out to collect the body but they say nothing more.

Erik walks around to the driver’s side of the car. He pulls the car up to the gate and with a wave of his hand, opens the gate.

Raven shouts and laughs from the backseat, but Charles’s hushes her. “We’re still monitored, I know it. I’m looking now. Yes, Angel had a camera and audio feed from the apartment. Fortunately she didn’t spy on us when Erik was there. She didn’t want to see. There’s another… Janos. Oh my god.” Charles swings out and slaps Erik.

Raven and Moira call out to him but he calms himself down. “Sorry, I just saw that the man we’ve been pleasantly chatting to via intercom this whole time is the bastard who shot me. And broke my knee before I went after you.”

Erik frowns as he drives and Charles looks over at him, “Didn’t he tell you? He smashed my knee after I killed that green man. Ah Toad, what an unfortunate name.”

Charles is reading and conversing with Erik’s mind and that makes Moira nervous. “We have to kill him and dump the body somewhere Charles. Are we still being watched?”

Charles looks out the car window. He can feel Raven being nervous but excited in the backseat. Moira is cautious and calculating. She’s very disturbed seeing Charles and Erik hold hands in the front seat. Lucas likes the way sunny street looks as it speeds by. Charles takes a deep breathe to gather his wits. He’s free, he thinks, finally free of the nightmare.

Except there’s Erik. And possibly several enemy soldiers. And maybe even Whitehall. Charles reasons, they can take on one problem at time. “I don’t sense anyone, but they could be wearing helmets. As far as Erik knows, there’s only his personal guard and unless he instructs them to do so, they don’t follow his every move. He’s gone out with us before with no one else watching, so it didn’t raise any red flags.”

Moira checks the car, “So we’re safe? There’s no wires or tracking devices in the car?”

Charles smiles slowly, “Erik would know if there was. He’s been so sure of his own power for so long, he thinks nothing can do him harm when he’s surrounded metal.”

Raven sits up to slaps Erik across the head. “I hope he feels safe now. We need to get out of the city, pull over to side, and shoot him in the face.”

Lucas laughs at her severe tone but Charles frowns, “No. I’m afraid we need him to get back to the Rhineland. At least for a little while. Then we can cross over to France or Belgium.”

Moira bites her thumb, “That could take a while. It’d be quicker to go north. We can be in the Baltic Sea in three hours. No one will bother us with Erik in tow. We get a boat, we kill him on a wharf. Personally I like the sound of drowning the asshole.”

Raven looks happy with that suggestion. Erik squeezes Charles’s hand. He’s not happy to hear any of this. Charles would almost feel bad about it. _“This is your fault. You left me no choice. You did this to yourself Erik. There’s no going back now.”_

 

An uneventful drive ends with Erik parking on a bluff over the coastline. Erik is pale as he sits in the car, a slight tremor running up and down his arm. Charles tells the women to get out of the car. “I’ll do this on my own. Lucas shouldn’t have to see.”

Moira nods but Raven’s stays put. “You shouldn’t have to be alone, Charles.”

He turns to her, “I have to. I want to. Now please, go find us a boat Captain Xavier.” He smiles and she wanly smiles back before getting out of the car.

Charles rubs his thumb over the knuckles of Erik’s hand. He looks down at the long fingered hand. “You probably could have been artist if things had turned out differently.” He sighs and rolls his window down. Is there anything you would like to say before you die?”

Erik is given control of his speech and the man can’t think of anything to say. Other than, “Charles… please.”

Charles snaps, “How many times did I beg you, Erik! How many times!” He turns uses Erik’s own power to fashion a sharp spike from the side of the car. Still holding Erik’s hand, Charles turns in his seat. “I’m not sorry, Erik.” He drives the metal stake into Erik’s chest. Unlike the can opener, there’s no resistance. It sinks in and leaves a bloody mess on Charles’s hands. Erik gasps for air as he heart slows to stop. Charles finally let’s go of his hand, though he can still feel a very active mind. He shutters it away. With his memory, he can save the personalities of the people he meets, collect them in his own head like toys. He takes everything he’s just learned about Erik and breaks it apart. He walks away from the car and doesn’t look back. It’s a sunny day, and the blood on his and shirt seem very bright.

Captain R.L. Xavier has acquired a ship. He’s a short stocky man with long white beard and Charles smiles when he meets him. “How’s your Danish?”

Captain R.L. clicks his heels and salutes, “GOTODAG!”

Lucas laughs at his aunt. A confused fisherman ignores the little family stealing his boat.


	27. Rejoice

Manhattan, New York USA January 1964

The people in the city are always changing. There’s a mad rhythm as the people flow in and out of businesses and homes. Different people, different races, different mutations. Humans and mutants rallying as news that Vice President Kennedy intends to runs for President next term. President Rogers supports him completely. It’s a very good endorsement, but the man has been a remarkable leader in own his right. Charles has been invited to a symposium in genetics to be a guest speaker. He’s brought the whole family along. He stands at a podium in front of two hundred scientists detailing his firsthand accounts of manifestations during the war and an official international poll he started as a Captain in the Armed Forces of Freed Europe. The findings are conclusive. Homo Sapiens is indeed evolving into Homo Superior, but Homo Sapiens is the mother of this species.

He jokes, “Humans are the chicken that laid the egg. Homo Superior does not yet differ genetically from Homo sapiens, it’s merely an offshoot where all the incredible potential that originates in the Human genome, is physically and mentally manifested in a myriad of fascinating mutations. We are still one race. Different, but the same. Thank you.”

He receives thunderous applause and accepts an award and a chance to continue his education at Colombia University. After the talks he runs into General Adina Arlington, her husband Mr. Arlington. They congratulate him for all that he’s accomplished. Charles talks to them while keeping an eye on his family as they roam the large hall.

Arlington looks sad and Charles can feel as she wells up with regret. He stops her before she can apologize, “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, General.”

She expects to be admonished for not sending an army after his family but instead Charles shakes her hand, “What in the world did your cousin do to my knee! It’s fantastic!”

The General laughs and Charles could swear he hears a faint thunder rolling in outside. “It’s a family secret, Charles. I could tell you, but you’d have to sacrifice a first born.” Mr. Arlington pulls a long face, “And I’m not babysitting.”

They all laugh and Charles continues his meet and greets before grabbing hold of his family. Raven is going to go to art school in the fall and Moira is studying medicine. Lucas can say ‘Mama’, and ‘Daddy’, and ‘River’.

They go home to Westchester, where Raven gets a great deal of pleasure calling Sharon, ‘Grandmother’.

Charles is happy, and sees a future for himself and his family where things can only get better.


	28. Kept

The fireworks are starting! We’re late!” Shouts Charles. He rushes out the door with Lucas under one arm and a picnic basket in the other. Moira comes out slowly behind. She’s been sick with a flu, he thinks and is determined to ruin the 4th of July with her mucous. Raven left earlier with a group of friends she grew up with. Sharon is retired after waking up around noon and deciding to cancel their garden party.

Which leaves them to go elsewhere. Charles is eager to record Lucas watching the display for the first with his new video camera. Lucas is the only one cooperating with him. The toddler laughs in the car as they pull out, pointing at the light show. “JUBILEE!”

Charles stops the engine and sticks his head out the window, “Not that little girl from down the lane!”

“Lane.” Moira rolls her eyes, “Acres and acres down the road on someone else island is your lane.”

To say she’s been irritable since she’s been sick is putting it mildly. Charles thinks it’s her subconscious way tell him they need to move out his mother’s house. He agrees, but he just wants to be sure that wherever they move to next is secure. Here, they’re surrounded by bodyguards, staff, and one Sharon Xavier. Whatever is left off Erik Lehnsherr’s old retinue could never penetrate. So he hopes. And keeps an eye on his family at all times. Even now he knows that Raven is jumping into a pool, surrounded by young people and two personal bodyguards that he pays very well.

They make it to the neighbor’s home, where there’s a barbecue and Jubilee is indeed putting on fireworks. Charles runs himself tired chasing Lucas with one eye glued to his viewfinder.

By the end of the night they’ve returned home. Sharon doesn’t wake up when Charles and Moira check in on her. She does wake up when Raven and her friends pull up to her bedroom window in a T-Bird, playing beach music. Raven dances on the car with one of the bodyguards and sings at the top of her lungs. She swaps out several lyrics just yell, “Hey GRANDMA!”

Sharon calls the police.

Charles had thought he was done bailing his sister out. The cops leave after giving them all a stern warning.

When Charles finally makes it to bed, Moira laughs at him and to shut her up he kisses her. They still haven’t been very intimate since the escape. Once was enough for them to realize they needed more time to be comfortable with each other again. Charles is surprised that he doesn’t miss sex as much as he would have thought he would years ago. He has his family and his work. Life is just as fulfilling without orgasms. At least he tells himself this repeatedly. Especially when the light catches Moira’s hair just right, or she smiles at him. Or her skirt rides up to reveal just an extra inch of thigh. Or she wears heels. Anything, he revises, sets him off now a days but he still can’t bring himself to act on anything. They’re comfortable where they are and that’s all that matter.

Charles turns on his side facing the door and closes his eyes. He sleepily blinks them once or twice as he nods off. He hears unforgettable sound of displaced air and his eyes shoot open. Above him, Azazel is wearing a gaudy red helmet. Before Charles can react, Azazel jabs him in the neck with a syringe. Charles sinks into his bed, familiar with this particular cocktail. He can’t move. He can’t speak. He can’t feel anything in his extremities. His mind is growing foggy, and before he can wake up the household, Azazel removes his helmet only to place it on Charles’s head.

Charles blacks out to the sight of the devil standing over his wife.

 

When Charles next opens his eyes, he’s submerged in blue water. He panics, breathing it doesn’t hurt but he afraid of drowning all the same. Blinking his eyes to take in his surroundings, he realizes he’s behind a thick glass, walled into some sort machinery. He beats on the glass trying to break, but all he does is draw attention to himself.

Charles freezes as Daniel Whitehall walks up to the glass. The man smiles up at him and pushes his glasses up his nose. His mouth moves but Charles can’t hear anything at first. Daniel realizes this and pushes a button with a clicking noise, “Sorry about that. I forgot it was soundproof. Charles? Are you really awake this time? Is this another seizure?”

Charles beats on the glass. He starts to kick it, when he occurs to him to use his powers. Reaching out to Daniel he finds nothing. Charles frowns and tries again. Daniel’s mind has always been slippery, but now it’s just mute.

Daniel sighs as he pushes the button, “I’d say this phase of the project was a success. I’m not sure Dr. Annaud would agree, but I do know someone who will.” He moves away another face takes his place hovering in front of the glass tube.

Charles starts to sob as the face of Erik Lehnsherr comes closer to the glass.

Erik presses the button, “Hello, little mouse. I was hoping you would wake up soon. I’ve prepared a room you at Mama’s house. You’re going to be very happy there after your treatments.”

Charles screams, and the slams his fist into the glass. Erik doesn’t flinch or back away. Instead he kisses the glass just over Charles face. Charles could imagine the man meant that for his nose. Erik smiles with all his teeth, “Don’t worry. I’ve decided to spare the others for now. What we need is more privacy. We’ll finally get plenty of that. Don’t worry, Charles.  I forgive you, Charles.  And I... I-”

Charles faints without hearing the rest of Erik’s ‘I love you.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was fun, I really wanted to post the rest of this one go so I could start the sequel. Its has Erik's pov and Erik Crazy is the best kind Crazy.


End file.
